GSU Anthropology

09/04/2026

Join us for coffee, bagels, and an session about anthropology next Wednesday, September 9, 9th floor of 25 Park Place, 12-2pm

08/31/2026

GSU Anthropology Dr. Bethany L. Turner’s new book, 𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘬𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵: 𝘉𝘪𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘲𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯 (University of Alabama Press) is available now.

Her book “illuminates the intersections between foodways, diet, gender, and power in the expansive Inka ceremonial complex of Saqsaywaman, Peru. Bioarchaeologist Bethany L. Turner weaves together geochemical and osteological research techniques to create osteobiographies for people who were likely special servants to the Inka royalty in the heart of the vast empire. These skeletal individuals, interred in a special cemetery atop Saqsaywaman, date to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and were previously excavated by Peruvian archaeologists. By weaving her own data together with existing archaeological, osteological, and ethnohistoric studies of Saqsaywaman, Turner opens a rare window into everyday life among the 𝘢𝘲𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘶𝘯𝘢, ‘chosen women’ who grew, prepared, and served food and drink to the Inka elite. She argues that the embodied experiences of these individuals underscore the ways in which they were ‘made performative artifacts of Inka statecraft.’ This statecraft, based on reciprocity and the lived experiences of the people who lived under it, left telltale signs in their bones and teeth. An important finding is that the 𝘢𝘲𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘶𝘯𝘢, who prepared lavish feasts and heroic quantities of the finest maize beer, 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢, were likely not consuming it. However, they showed poor dental health as a result of chewing the maize to process it during brewing. This significant oral decay likely made them susceptible to chronic diseases and may have shortened their lives. Turner also asserts that the 𝘢𝘲𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘶𝘯𝘢 at Saqsaywaman included individuals whose skeletons were estimated to have been male but who likely performed feminine roles, reflecting the fluidity of gendered duality in indigenous Andean cosmology. In Chosen Women and Inka Statecraft, archaeologists, anthropologists, Andeanists, and food scholars will find new ways to consider life in the Inka past.” https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817362652/chosen-women-and-inka-statecraft/

Dr. Turner is Director of Graduate Studies, Director of the Bioarchaeology Lab, and a Full Professor in our Department of Anthropology.

Thanks to Dr. Turner for sharing these great photos from the field as well.



Georgia State University College of Arts and Sciences

08/30/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Louis Ruprecht, Jr. (Professor at GSU Anthropology and Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies at Georgia State University) and GSU Anthropology MA candidate Lexi Mueldener on their recent co-authored publication, “Curating Heritage Against Fascism: The Vatican and Mussolini,” Soundings 106.4 (2026): 498-540.

You can this article freely through November at the links below.


• Abstract:
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/soundings/article-abstract/106/4/498/412584/Curating-Heritage-Against-Fascism-The-Vatican-and

• Article (free-access Author Link):
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/soundings/article/doi/10.5325/soundings.106.4.0498/412584/Curating-Heritage-Against-Fascism-The-Vatican-and?guestAccessKey=1416bc23-ba1f-4368-8821-9358ead9cdb6

Abstract. This article offers a case study of the “Mission Exposition” sponsored by the Vatican for the 1925 Jubilee Year, then placed on permanent display at the Lateran Palace as the Museo Missionario Etnologico in 1927. A journal, the Annali Lateranensi, offered scholarly support of the museu...

08/27/2026

It’s the first week of classes! Hope everyone has a great fall semester! Georgia State University

08/27/2026

It’s the first week of classes at Georgia State University Have a great semester everyone!!

08/02/2026

Dr. Louis Ruprecht of GSU Anthropology presented at the Comparative and Continental Philosophy Circle in Nagoya, Japan this summer. He also visited Kyoto with a colleague, and they had a chance to meet up with Kasumi Shimakura, who took some of our introductory classes in anthropology last fall and spring as an international exchange student at Georgia State. Kasumi shared this great photo of this meet-up.

07/28/2026

See below for a GSU News Hub feature on important research in which GSU Anthropology Professor Bethany Turner-Livermore and Dr. Jenail Marshall played an important role in its early stages. When she was an undergraduate in our department, Dr. Marshall (who recently received her PhD in Anthropology from Purdue University), was working with Dr. Bethany Turner-Livermore. Dr. Turner-Livermore also teaches our popular "Diet, Demography, and Disease," class, which explores the interaction of cultural practices, biology, history, and more in understanding human health and illness in past and present. Dr. Marshall was interested in the properties of gesho, a root that is used to make tej, Ethiopian honey wine. Marshall's request to have this analyzed by Dr. Mariya Campbell in Dr. Eric Gilbert's microbiology lab at Georgia State led to important discoveries about the properties of gesho extract that assist in limiting the formation of biofilms, thus reducing the proliferation of harmful bacteria.

In the race to combat antibiotic-resistant infections, Georgia State biologist Eric Gilbert and his team are exploring new ways to disrupt bacterial biofilms.

07/06/2026

More experiences with the : Sara Groce, an alum of our MA program ('19) at GSU Anthropology, sent us this great photo of her and her husband from the Belgium/Egypt game in Seattle last week. She said it was "an INCREDIBLE experience to be in the stadium with folks from all over the world, cheering and celebrating both teams." Sara is currently the Shelter Director at animal welfare organization in Asheville, North Carolina.

07/05/2026

Congratulations to Dylan Hill on winning the 2026 Outstanding Graduate Research Paper Award from GSU Anthropology for the paper "Racial/ized Violence in Forsyth County, GA: The Wake of Silence and Dismissal." Dylan also recently graduated with an MA in our department. The paper was based in part on research conducted through the SCALER Lab (Sociocultural Anthropology Lab for Equity and Racial Justice) at GSU, which is part of the GSU EPIC Program.

06/28/2026

This week, we wanted to feature a few GSU Anthropology alumni who are involved in the World Cup in different ways.

Two of our alumni, Dr. Md (Asad) Asaduzzaman and Dr. Sean Seiler, are official volunteers for the FIFA World Cup 2026, with Dr. Asaduzzaman volunteering in Houston and Dr. Seiler in Atlanta (as a Sustainability and Human Rights volunteer). Dr. Seiler is also doing qualitative research on the 2026 World Cup.

Dr. Gabriela Alvarado reflected on her childhood experience collecting Panini World Cup stickers in Costa Rica, now that her son is old enough to share this practice, and she decided to do some research tracking “peer-to-peer trading,” writing her results in this fun article for Medium: https://medium.com//pack-it-in-or-trade-up-e02ec4a916b1

Georgia State University College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State Alumni


We encourage our alumni, current students, faculty, and staff of GSU Anthropology to DM us with your World Cup experiences.