Faculty Cluster Talk - Drs. D. Benyshek, A. Crittenden, and P. Gray

When

Apr. 25, 2022, 11:30am to 12:30pm

Campus Location

Carol C. Harter Classroom Building Complex - Building C

Office/Remote Location

120

Description

Please join us in this UNLV Anthropology Talk, given by Drs. D. Benyshek, A. Crittenden, and P. Gray. Audience members can attend in-person (in CBC C120) or register to attend online.

  1. Dr. Daniel Benyshek, Dept. Chair of Anthropology at UNLV.
    1. Title: Eating Placenta as Postpartum Medicine: Why Would Anyone Do It?
    2. Abstract: Maternal placentophagy (consumption of the placenta or ‘afterbirth’ postpartum) is common alternative health practice in the US homebirthing community. In this presentation, we will explore why some individuals would choose to consume their placenta postpartum even while the safety and health benefits of the practice are not well established. 
  2. Dr. Alyssa Crittenden, Graduate Coordinator and Associate Professor at UNLV
    1. Title: Environmental Change and Food Sovereignty among Hadza Foragers of Tanzania
    2. Abstract: The Hadza foragers of Tanzania, one of the world’s few remaining hunting and gathering populations, are currently experiencing large-scale shifts in their ecological, nutritional, and socio-political landscapes. Climate change, increased interaction with aid organizations, heightened participation in ethnotourism, and the expansion of wildlife conservation areas have led to conspicuous changes in their identity, patterns of subsistence, and degree of market integration. In this talk, I will briefly touch on nutrition transition, dietary impacts on growth and development, mobility patterns, maternal and infant health, and the importance of community inclusive and community based research. A far cry from the romantic notion that foraging communities are isolated populations living in “harmony” with nature, the data presented here underscore how the Hadza (as with all contemporary hunter-gatherer societies) are not immune to products and processes of global change.
  3. Dr. Peter Gray, Professor at UNLV 
    1. Title: Life Long Learning and Life History Theory
    2. Abstract: In a knowledge economy characterized by exponential change in technology and roles, we hear of a need for lifelong learning to keep up (reskill and upskill). How might we sketch the relevance of life history theory for framing the design and meaning of lifelong learning in higher education? Our ape and hominin forebears largely engaged in youthful experiential learning, with teaching of norms conveyed through hominin storytelling. Formal education including undergraduate and graduate education represents recent human institutional derivations. Self- and familial investments in embodied educational capital may further social success and its benefits such as health and mating opportunities and can also serve as a positional good in a competitive social and economic landscape. However, the design and delivery of lifelong learning is situated within a world of people living longer lives, facing tradeoffs among work, parenting and educational investment, and at an unprecedented pace of change. The wrap-around higher education services of students spanning a wide adult range favors flexibility facilitated by online and hybrid offerings and can account for the diverse purposes driving students.

Admission Information

Open to all members of the broader UNLV community.

External Sponsor

Department of Anthropology

Filters

Anthropology, Open to All, Current Students, Faculty/Staff, Lectures/Speakers, Virtual Events, Adult Learner
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