Conference Agenda

The Museum of Anthropology at Rowan University (MARU) holds a collection of human skeletons and skulls, acquired in previous years by the university for teaching purposes in several anthropology courses, including Forensic Anthropology. The collections were obtained under legal and ethical guidelines from companies that supply natural skeletal materials, such as Osta International. Like all human remains used in teaching, these materials require careful ethical considerations to balance realistic learning experiences with respect for the deceased and proper conservation practices. Hence, their analysis contributes to creating a more complete educational history for each specimen. This collection is currently being analyzed and recorded through a structured cataloging process to create a biological profile for each skeleton, with all information being entered into MARU’s comprehensive databases.

MARU’s main objective is the dissemination of knowledge regarding its artifactual and human skeletal collections through documentation that employs PastPerfect Museum Software. As human remains, skeletons merit identification through forensic anthropology methods, including metric analysis, development of biological profiles, assessment of population affinity, and identification of bone and dental pathologies, as well as the establishment of handling and management guidelines as they continue to be utilized in teaching. Conducting detailed forensic analyses of these skeletons is therefore essential to support their ethical treatment and long-term preservation.

Our project describes the forensic analysis of two adult skulls from MARU’s collection. The analysis includes detailed osteological identification to assess bone condition for conservation; cranial metrics to determine population affinity, sex, and age for biological profiling; identification of medical conditions (e.g., caries, dental wear); and both two-dimensional and three-dimensional facial reconstruction using standardized photography, tissue depth data, and digital modeling. Each skull is also scanned in three dimensions for digital recording, preservation, and further comparative study.

Infant mortality has long been considered a strong indicator of a society’s healthcare system, leading to incorrect analyses of medical care and accessibility. This paper questions the legitimacy of using infant mortality as a measure of healthcare, and, instead, suggests it is a better indicator of structural violence. Using evidence from the United States, Nigeria, Bom Jesus, Bangladesh and the Yakama, the structural violence behind the accessibility of various socioeconomic factors was compared against the unreliability of death reports, deaths caused by periods of violence and confusion surrounding stillbirths/infant resuscitation. Evidence showed that infant mortality is a stronger indicator of structural violence due to its greater percentage among minorities, people of the lower class and countries under duress. These findings have begun a discussion on the ways that we, as a society, have perpetuated structural inequity and the serious repercussions that it can have on the lives of infants.

For two centuries, Mohawk Ironworkers have been the invisible backbone behind major infrastructure projects, such as constructing skyscrapers and bridges, in northeastern North America. This study displays the importance of the Mohawk community in the region and shows their ongoing connection with the land. Project foci include manual labor, the impact of the industry on the communities in their hometowns in upstate New York and Quebec, and the migration patterns across the US – Canada border. Data were collected from photos, maps, and an interview with legendary Ironworker, Albert Stalk. This analysis furthers our understanding of the impact of generational work and the strain it places on families and communities at large. These results highlight the role of Mohawk Ironworkers in the physical structures of the Northeast region and how Indigenous communities, though frequently invisible, still play a major part in the functioning of American and Canadian society.

Popular, visually appealing animals, known as charismatic species are often used as fundraising symbols or tourist attractions because of their unique ability to appeal to human emotions. In spaces where charismatic animals are commodified, economic benefits often outweigh proper consideration of rehabilitation and animal care. This study analyzes animal-centered tourism and rehabilitation efforts in Indonesia and Malaysia with a focus on processes of commodification and ethical practices. Semi-structured interviews, casual interviews, and participant observation were used to gather data in non-profit, private, and publicly owned rehabilitation centers. Findings show that people generally care about rehabilitation and the animals in their environment outside of economic benefits, rehabilitation centers protect vital rainforest in Malaysia, and animal tourism in Malaysia and Indonesia often starts out of a desire to protect a species rather than to make a profit. Overall, there is evidence that animal tourism is being practiced ethically in Malaysia and Indonesia.

While archaeologists have studied how gender non-conforming (GNC) peoples are represented in the past, historically, these discussions occur in ways that serve to further marginalize and hide the presence of GNC people and reinforce the European gender binary. This paper investigates how gender non-conforming people have been represented archaeologically, and how archaeologists have contributed to erasing their lives and histories. It also advocates for the ways archaeology must change to include the marginalized within our research, and in our field as practitioners. Studying gender diversity throughout the world, the impact that colonialism has on indigenous communities, skeletal and grave good analysis, the more recent rise of trans activism, and how practitioners have dealt with these topics are imperative to understanding how archaeologists need to change how they work with and represent GNC people in their study of the past to prevent further harm and promote inclusivity in our field.

The Late Quaternary Extinction (LQE) was a selective asynchronous extinction event that occurred around 11,700 years ago in North America, but earlier around the rest of the world, roughly synchronous with hominin global dispersals. This event marked the end of the Last Ice Age as well as the transition from the Pleistocene Epoch to the Holocene Epoch. The LQE saw a global decrease of megafauna populations with roughly 65% of different megafauna taxa going extinct at the end of the Pleistocene. But what makes it different from other extinctions? The methods used in this project have involved a literature review comparing the timing, environmental contexts, and characteristics of extinct taxa from the LQE as well as other epoch-associated extinctions in the Cenozoic. Preliminary results suggest a mix of climate change and human overhunting are the reasons for the spike in the LQE extinction.

In 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, news that spread like wildfire throughout international media. This ruling was a result of decades of social activism which sprung from the end of the martial law period in 1987. The end of this period inspired student activism, social movements, and the beginnings of democracy in the country. This activism and the resultant ruling led Taiwan to become known internationally as a beacon of equality and queer belonging in Asia, as well as a nation where queer activism and pop culture continue to thrive alongside burgeoning legal protections for LGBTQ+ Taiwanese.

However, Taiwan’s larger neighbor, the People’s Republic of China, is more outwardly hostile towards the queer community. LGBTQ+ organizations, bars, and student groups have been forced to close, while anti LGBTQ+ sentiment from the government has steadily continued to grow. The Chinese government has led a harsh campaign against the existence of same sex relationships and other potentially queer representation (e.g., effeminate men), restricting these types of representations from being present in television, film, literature, and online media.

These two nations, known to some as one unified nation, harbor nearly opposite state-level reactions to the queer community. Many argue that China’s regulations of queerness (either real or perceived) are this way as a method of cultivating a masculine image to encourage nationalism. On the other hand, many argue that Taiwan is shaping their country as a progressive and democratic society in response to China’s authoritarianism, in order to paint a picture of themselves as distinct, independent, and sovereign.

Through literature review, media analysis, and my time as an intern at Taiwan Equality Campaign in Taipei during the spring and summer of 2025, I am analyzing these state-driven responses to the queer community in both countries, as well as their reception. The impact of these political and societal reactions to the queer community influences not only their lived experiences, but also the ways in which outsiders (e.g., non-queer Chinese, Taiwanese, and foreigners regardless of gender or sexuality) understand them.

Forming connections is central to the human experience, and art is a powerful way to do so. This poster explores how the themes of handmade goods and locality foster connection at The Beekman Atelier in Saratoga Springs, New York’s Arts District. The Beekman Atelier, which gets the name “atelier” from the French word for workshop, is a small fashion and design retail store that offers sewing and art classes. Through observation, mapping, photography, and interviewing, I analyzed how the store encourages connection and community building through art and fashion design. I argue that The Beekman Atelier uses the creation and selling of handmade, locally produced goods to create this connection. These practices form relationships among local artists, community members, and customers who are connected by shared creative practice and expression. This ethnography can show us how artistry is a powerful outlet for humans to form community and connection.

<p dir="ltr">Humans have always searched the earth for stories, and in burial grounds those stories are written in bone. For more than a century, archaeological and forensic anthropology have relied on skeletal morphology to construct the biological profile&mdash;estimating sex, age-at-death, stature, and trauma from the pelvis, skull, and long bones. Yet as contemporary scholarship broadens our understanding of gender diversity, especially transgender identities, it becomes necessary to reconsider how confidently we read identity from the skeleton alone. This paper explores how emerging scientific methods&mdash;ranging from bone mineral density analysis and muscle attachment assessment to genomic and proteomic testing&mdash;reshape the way archaeologists interpret past bodies and imagine the future of excavation practices.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Recent scholarship such as the systematic review by Viana, Selvaggi, and Milani (2025) synthesizes forensic research on identifying transgender and gender-diverse individuals, emphasizing how hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgical interventions may influence skeletal features. These findings complicate earlier assumptions that bone reflects a fixed binary. Studies comparing osteological, genomic, and proteomic approaches (Buonasera et al., 2020) reveal that molecular methods often provide more precise biological sex estimation than morphology alone, particularly in ambiguous cases. At the same time, research using DXA and CT imaging (Fern&aacute;ndez Castillo &amp; L&oacute;pez Ruiz, 2011; Luo et al., 2023; Bethard et al., 2019) demonstrates that bone mineral density correlates with age and long-term hormonal environments. Such data suggest that endocrine exposure&mdash;whether endogenous or medically mediated&mdash;can subtly shape skeletal architecture over time.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Metric analyses of long bones and postcranial elements (Men&eacute;ndez Garmendia et al., 2025; Morandini et al., 2025), alongside geometric morphometric studies of the sacrum and cranium, refine traditional sex estimation techniques. However, investigations into skeletal robusticity and muscle entheses (De La Paz et al., 2025; Smith &amp; Roberts, 2014) remind us that activity patterns and mechanical loading also alter bone form. Fracture analysis and trauma modeling (Ortner &amp; Lynch, 2012; Beier et al., 2024) further demonstrate that bones register lived experience&mdash;labor, violence, stress&mdash;rather than identity categories alone. Even genetic sexing of subadult remains (2023) shows that biological signals can be accessed where morphology fails, though DNA too reflects chromosomal patterns, not gendered selfhood.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Taken together, this interdisciplinary body of research suggests that skeletons record biological processes, environmental pressures, and embodied histories, but they do not directly encode social identity. Therefore, the future of archaeological burial excavation must adopt probabilistic, multi-method approaches that integrate osteology, imaging technology, molecular science, and contextual burial analysis. Rather than searching deterministically for &ldquo;trans bodies&rdquo; in the archaeological record, scholars must recognize both the capabilities and the limitations of skeletal evidence.</p>

<p dir="ltr">By embracing collaboration between anthropology, forensic science, genetics, and bioarchaeology, we move toward a more ethically grounded and scientifically rigorous interpretation of past lives. In doing so, archaeology not only refines its technical methods but also deepens its responsibility: to reconstruct the human past with accuracy, humility, and respect for the complexity of embodied identity across time.</p>

Street art has been historically used as a tool for solidarity and cooperation between local struggles and internationalist movements, yet it faces continuous censorship and invisibilization due to its potential for social mobilization. Focusing on the Nicaraguan revolution, this poster presents an applied research program focused on documenting the agitprop mural projects of Mike Alewitz, a renowned US artist and member of the internationalist brigade invited to depict the Nicaraguan liberation struggle during the 1980s. Moving beyond common political characterization of revolutions as periods of violent instability, I use an anthropological lens to explore the artistic spatialization of revolution and consider how the ideological visions of Nicaraguans and visiting artists intersect to create a shared revolutionary consciousness.

An emergent outcome of this collaborative project is a booklet that serves as a repository for collective organizing and portrays a brave example of how agitprop art can aid in our contemporary political climate of working-class struggle and artistic erasure. It will particularly focus on the three trips Mike Alewitz made to Nicaragua: at the beginning mobilizations, at the height of successful social programs, and towards the end of the revolutionary process. At the core of this project is an important collaboration between the “internacionalistas” and Nicaraguan community organizations, as well as a research plan that moves between the artist’s studio, the archive, and the collective; between the past and the present. We use oral history and the synthesis of archival materials, newspapers accounts, pre-existing interviews, and new efforts to reach contemporary community organizers, to preserve the important stories of the working class.

I use the mural ‘Two Sandinos’ as a primary case study of materiality and memory that persists today through the practices and commitments of community members who repaint it. This act of communal reclaiming and maintenance provides an example of durable revolution ideologies—a resistance to state-sponsored censorship and the othering of revolutionary art—across generations. Applying Marxist and feminist anthropology frames, I explore the ways in which visual images mediate popular resistance against coercive regimes, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of revolution. The international works of Mike Alewitz contain important lessons for the ongoing pursuit of social transformation and resistance that remain both useful and necessary for addressing authoritarianism across the world.

Plagued by a history of colonialism, much of the Americas is a blended mix of Indigenous cultures, imperial powers, and the general aftermath of the merging between New World and Old. As a result, many territories and countries have a unique history of occupations and subsequent revolutions, yet some territories still remain under imperial control - not quite colonies but not autonomous countries. One of the most contested areas of land in the Americas is the island of Puerto Rico. Strong opinions circulate for both statehood and separation from the United States of America. This conversation is close to the hearts of many, and requires respect for individual Puerto Ricans. To create dialogue, a qualitative survey featuring input from Puerto Ricans using a scale of agree, neutral, and disagree will be utilized, featuring questions about statehood vs separation, and Taino cultural conservation will also be included. Text-based research on cultural resurgence movements will be used as supportive evidence. The expected results will be a mixture of opinions, as this is a hotly debated topic. Results will be obtained from Puerto Ricans of diverse geographical and racial backgrounds. Text-supported trends in Taino culture point toward a rise in cultural conservation among recent generations. The strength of the interpretations of how Puerto Ricans feel on this issue will be dependent on the rate of participation in the survey. This study will be used to build an understanding how cultural conservation and discourse regarding independence impacts Puerto Ricans everywhere.

This research explores the limitless nature of borders within the United States, focusing on the intensified activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in recent years. As border enforcement escalates, ICE conducts their operations far beyond the Mexico-U.S. border, relocating its elements into domestic American territories. This, in turn, supports the notion of borders being less of a fixed geographic line, and more a mode of power and exclusion seeped onto American soil. This study examines the ideology of borders being fluid and conceptualized spaces contingent on legal and symbolic practice. Paying particular attention to Latino communities, this study analyzes how ICE agents enforce the Mexico-U.S. border in American spaces, turning domestic locations into contested areas. Using Bourdieu's theory of symbolic power to emphasize how border enforcement produces a social hierarchy, this paper analyzes the creation of a larger community due to a collective resistance to this imposed power dynamic. This study examines the emerging alliances within and beyond Latino communities, cultural and political, in response to the rapid development of deportation. Using data from a survey of primarily Latino college students, this study will argue in favor of communities formed through resistance. Additionally, responses from individuals outside of the Latino community will be examined within this study, providing a perspective from non-Latino members who have joined these resistance communities. Ultimately, this paper argues that borders are not solely territorial boundaries, but rather notions of enforcement that are further reproduced on its territory.

A significant portion of the archaeological glass methods focuses solely on the chronological analysis of glass fragments. This focus leaves out the ways that glass fragments can be used to connect trade, foodways, and other aspects of culture. There have been many cutting-edge techniques that are entering the field that utilize chemical signatures in glass artifacts to determine compositional elements and even the content of a vessel. This methodological analysis of trends in glass analysis will be done through the lens of a collection of glass artifacts found on a site at Connecticut College.

The literature review that will be conducted as a significant portion of this research will cover the tomes published by the Society for Historic Archaeology, smaller research projects, older texts on glass analysis, and the large body of work for amateur glass identification. These sources encompass many aspects of the theoretical process for identifying and analyzing glass artifacts from academics, commercial archaeologists, and hobbyists. It is important to consider all three of these facts of archaeological study as they all influence the remaining archaeological record. Every day, more artifacts are removed from their context and added to repositories without any analytical research into their origins or broader societal context.

When these artifacts are removed from the archaeological context, they remove analytical value from the archaeological record. With potential shifts in techniques, some of this analytical context can be recovered. While these techniques are expensive and time consuming, they can add information critical to the greater context of an archaeological site.

In this poster, I will go through the literature and research currently available on glass analytics. With the research, I will add commentary within the context of several glass collections currently housed at Connecticut College.

Humans originated in the wilderness, but over time, their relationship with nature has progressively deteriorated. Flora was replaced with plastic replicas, fauna deemed nuisances were relocated, and the land that was once a source of endless adventure was traded for digital landscapes described as “convenient” and “safer.” It's safe to say human connectedness with nature has fallen drastically since society industrialized. One man, Dick Proenneke, echoed these concerns nearly sixty years ago when he abandoned the luxuries of society to reconnect with the intense wilderness in Alaska. While Proenneke’s response may appear extreme, he found true peace coexisting with the unpredictability of the wilderness. To examine the idea that humans can exist apart from nature, this project will use Proenneke as an example of a more natural way of living, utilizing his own journal entries, films, and firsthand accounts. Additionally, surveys and interviews will be conducted among the general public to examine how individuals perceive their relationship with nature and its role in everyday life. Results are expected to identify people who feel disconnected from nature and express hesitancy to rebuild this relationship due to limited time, knowledge, and access to resources. Living within nature has shaped human experience, influencing emotional, cultural, and environmental relationships. By exploring how to reintegrate nature into our lives, we will reconnect not only with the natural world but also with the essence of what it means to truly be human.

Contemporary fitness culture increasingly links masculinity with muscularity, strength, and physical dominance. This paper examines how performance-enhancing drug (PED) use within bodybuilding and online fitness spaces shapes masculine identity in the digital age. Drawing on anthropological theories of hegemonic masculinity, this research explores how cultural expectations of the “ideal” male body influence self-perception, identity construction, and drug use. Methods include a literature review of academic studies on PED use, masculinity, and body image, alongside a digital ethnographic analysis of bodybuilding influencer content on social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. Findings highlight three key themes: normalization of PED use in fitness communities, identity conflict between natural and enhanced selves, and the powerful role of influencers in reinforcing or challenging masculine ideals. This study emphasizes how social media intensifies pressures to perform masculinity through the body, contributing to body dissatisfaction and identity tension among men.

The Museo Arqueológico de La Serena (MUARSE), Chile holds osteological collections of the Late Archaic (ca. 3000 YBP) and formative periods (Molle, 2300-1200 YBP, Animas, ca. 1100-1000 YBP, and Diaguita, 1.000 – 500 YBP) of Chile’s semiarid north. The collections represent a wide geographical range of archaeological sites that include human and animal skeletal remains. Their mostly intact state of preservation permits comprehensive osteological analyses, demographics, and forensic facial reconstruction in two dimensions. This project describes the forensic analysis and facial reconstruction methods of adult skulls held in MUARSE’s collections: One female (953: Penuelas, Female, 40+ years), One modified male skull, (954: Penuelas, Male, 35+ years),and one male skull (955: Penuelas, Male, 35+ years). The analysis includes: a detailed osteological identification that identifies the condition of the bones for conservation assessment; cranial metrics for population affinity and forensic facial reconstruction (Done by identifying the skull and measuring tissue depths at facial landmarks; where it is up to the artist’s interpretation to recreate the identity); and determination of sex and age for biological profile. As human remains, skeletons merit identification via forensic anthropology methods (metrics, biological profile, population affinity). Therefore, conducting detailed osteological analyses of the skeletons, with the aim of also supporting their ethical treatment via detailed documentation, have become a main goal of bioarchaeological research at the MUARSE.