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Who, What, Why: Lucía Stavig
Lucia Stavig poses in front of the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies (CLALS)

Lucía Stavig, a Peruvian postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies, works on healing through connection in the Andes.

 

  • Who, What, Why

    • Who, What, Why: Lucía Stavig

    Lucía Stavig, a Peruvian postdoctoral fellow in anthropology, works on healing through connection in the Andes.

    Kristina García

    The allure of fad diets, and why they fail
    A person seated at a dining table with their elbows on the table, with one single carrot on the plate before them.

    The allure of fad diets, and why they fail

    In a new book, Penn nutritional anthropologist Janet Chrzan and Kima Cargill of the University of Washington, Tacoma, explain the cultural, social, and psychological fixation on fad diets and why they don’t typically succeed.

    Michele W. Berger

    Decolonize the future: Defending Indigenous rights and lands
    Maya activist Cristina Coc speaks into a microphone on the Perry World House stage

    Cristina Coc, a Q’eqchi’ Maya community leader who founded and is program director of the Julian Cho Society, was one of three activists from Belize at the Perry World House event. (Image: Courtesy of Perry World House).

    Decolonize the future: Defending Indigenous rights and lands

    Three Maya activists from Belize spoke with Richard M. Leventhal about the challenges and progress they’ve made on land rights in recent years.

    Kristen de Groot

    Poet Wes Matthews combines writing, music, research, and service
    Wes Matthews leaning in a doorway at the Kelly Writers House

    Matthews says he plans to write poetry throughout his life, and hopes someday to collaborate on a poem or book with his mother. 

    Poet Wes Matthews combines writing, music, research, and service

    College fourth-year Wes Matthews is combining writing, music, research, and service during his Penn experience. A former Youth Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, the anthropology major and religious studies minor works at the Kelly Writers House and is a Wolf Humanities Center fellow.
    ‘Citizenship on the Edge’
    A book cover depicting a woman wearing a striped top and face and body paint. She is holding a rainbow flag. The book cover reads: Citizenship on the Edge: Sex/Gender/Race

    A new book by anthropologist Deborah A. Thomas and political scientist Nancy J. Hirschmann compiles a series of essays examining citizenship from an interdisciplinary lens. 

  • Q&A

    • ‘Citizenship on the Edge’

    In a new book, anthropologist Deborah A. Thomas and political scientist Nancy J. Hirschmann look at who’s kept out of social governance and belonging.

    Kristina García

    The story the bowls tell
    penn museum incantation bowl being examined

    Gross and Elitzur-Leiman are studying some intact, pristine bowls and others, like the one above, that are in pieces. “The sherds tell a story, too,” says Blanchard.

    The story the bowls tell

    In an ambitious new project, historian Simcha Gross and Harvard’s Rivka Elitzur-Leiman are studying hundreds of ancient incantation bowls housed at the Penn Museum. They hope to better understand the objects and eventually, build a database of all these bowls worldwide.

    Michele W. Berger

    Solving the mystery of migration into Micronesia
    A map of the Pacific Ocean. Australia is in the bottom-left corner, with Indonesia and New Guinea to the north. Also pinpointed are Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia, with arrows signifying five migration paths designated M1, M2, M3, M4, and M5. M1, M2, and M4 originate in East Asia. M3 originates around New Guinea, and M5 originates between Polynesia and Melanesia.

    Map of five inferred streams of migration into Micronesia. (Image: Liu et al., 2022, “Ancient DNA reveals five streams of migration into Micronesia and matrilocality in early Pacific seafarers,” Science, Vol 377, Issue 6601, pp. 72-79, DOI: 10.1126/science.abm6536)

  • Q&A

    • Solving the mystery of migration into Micronesia

    Penn anthropologist Theodore Schurr explains how the use of both ancient DNA and modern genetic materials revealed five paths into this western Pacific region of Oceania, and uncovered subtleties about the society’s marital customs.

    Michele W. Berger