By Kenneth Seligson, California State University, Dominguez Hills (THE CONVERSATION) Carbon dioxide concentrations in Earth's atmosphere have reached 415 parts per million - a level that last occurred more than three million years ago, long before the evolution of humans. This news adds to growing concern that climate change will likely wreak serious damage on our planet in the coming decades. While Earth has not been this warm in human history, we can learn about coping with climate change by looking to the Classic Maya civilization that thrived between A.D. 250-950 in Eastern Mesoamerica, the region that is now Guatemala, Belize, Eastern Mexico, and parts of El Salvador and ... Read More
Anthropology
Faculty Highlights: March 2019
Our faculty members participate in conferences around the world, conduct groundbreaking research, and publish books and journal papers that contribute to their field and highlight their expertise. We feature those accomplishments and more in this section. College of Education Anthony Normore, professor and chair of Graduate Education, co-authored the book “Handbook of Research on Strategic Communication, Leadership, and Conflict Management in Modern Organizations.” Designed for professionals, leaders, managers, and human resource specialists, Normore's book provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of managing and solving conflicts, and introduces updated ... Read More
Sarah Taylor’s Book ‘On Being Maya and Getting By’ Highlights Economic Ingenuity of Indigenous Villagers
After the ancient city of Ek' Balam–with its remarkably well preserved Maya sculptures–was unearthed on the Yucatán Peninsula in the late 1980s, the Mexican government gave control of the site to local indigenous villagers to create an authentic Maya tourist destination, and in the process, improve their overall prosperity. Sarah R. Taylor, assistant professor of anthropology at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), has been researching the Ek' Balam's community-based economic development project since 2004 and the effects tourism and growth have had on the rural Maya village. She has chronicled her findings in her new book, On Being Maya and Getting By: Heritage ... Read More
Are Museum Bones on Display Real or Replica?
“The few that are available for medical study become pretty expensive and that's why we end up purchasing plastic replica skulls because they're just easier to get a hold of and they hold up better because real human skulls are quite fragile.” - Sarah Lacy, assistant professor of anthropology, was interviewed for the NBC-4 News feature “Are Museum Bones on Display Real or Replica?" Lacy's interview begins at 14:20 minutes in the piece. Source: NBC-4 News ... Read More
Sarah Lacy Hangs with ‘Hot Hominins’ on Social Media
Sarah Lacy really likes a “good brow ridge.” She thinks “it's hot!” In class, Lacy, a new assistant professor of anthropology at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), and her anthropology students call that facial characteristic a “supraorbital torus,” which was sported by Neandertals around 40,000 years ago. They have also given the long-extinct human species a “sexy” social media presence with Lacy posing with their skulls in a series she calls “Hot Hominin of the Day.” “I dress a bit unusual, and my students were joking about it. They thought I should create an 'Outfit of the Day' blog. It seemed a little frivolous, so I came up with a way to have fun with that idea, ... Read More