Five New College of Florida Students Recognized at the Florida Anthropological Society’s 63rd Annual Meeting
June 7, 2011—Five New College students traveled to Orlando to participate in the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Florida Anthropological Society (FAS), May 6-8. Lee Block, Chelsea Montgomery, Alexis Santos, Liz Usherwood and Michael Waas each presented papers they had written on topics relating to Florida anthropology and archaeology.
Two of the students garnered awards for their papers. For the second year in a row, Lee Bloch won the FAS student paper competition for his work, which examines the Muskogean community of Lake Jackson through a consideration of its oral histories and traditions in conjunction with archaeological methods and theory. The Chuck Wilde Archaeological Research Award was given to Alexis Santos, for her research on the late nineteenth-century community of Rye, once situated on the headwaters of the Manatee River. He plans to use the awarded funds to help defer his archaeological field school expenses this summer.
New College had a strong presence at the small conference. In addition to the five students, New College was represented by alumnae Sherry Svekis, Felicia Silpa, Kacie Allen and Traci Ardren. New College Associate Professor of Anthropology Uzi Baram was also present, and took part in the panel discussion “Archaeology of Florida’s Recent Past.”
Participating New College students and their paper topics are listed below:
Lee J. Bloch
“On Collaborative Archaeology and the Decolonization of the Past: Re-Imagining the Lake Jackson/Okeeheepkee”
Chelsea Montgomery
“An Anthropological Study of High School American History Curriculum Content”
Alexis Santos
“Remembering Rye Village”
Liz Usherwood
“A Reanalysis of the Negro Fort (1814-1816): A Beacon of Hope on the Florida Frontier”
Michael Waas
“The Unconquered People: The Case for Seminole Ethno-genesis in the Myakka River Valley”
For more information on the 2011 FAS Annual Meeting, click here.