Anthropology Department at Queens College, CUNY

08/31/2026

Congratulations to our very own Mandana Limbert who received the 2026 Jack Goody Award for her article: Homeland is Where the Soul Resides: Travel, Prayer, Passports, and Nation in the Western Indian Ocean. This award honors an article that best represents the mission of the journal, Comparative Studies in Society and History Comparative Studies in Society and History

The panel of judges shared the following praise:
"From its gripping opening on, Mandana Limbert’s article (“Homeland Is Where the Soul Resides: Travel Prayer, Passports, and Nation in the Western Indian Ocean,” Issue 67.2) presents an elegant and sophisticated exploration of political belonging that transcends the scope of classical frameworks of social and political theory. Her discussion of twentieth-century Omani travel and migration explores two rival techniques that shaped colonial-era identity practices and policies, and which still resonate today. One, the travel prayer (ṣalat al-safar), enacts a conceptualization of homeland (waṭan) through the negotiation of religious obligations for Omanis living in Zanzibar, far from the Ibadi Imamate. Limbert thereby recovers a counterintuitive idea of political belonging that is embodied, affective, and spatial without being territorial. The other, the passport, traces the growing emphasis of British colonial policies on constraining the movement of a subject (ra‘iyya) identified by political demarcations of space. Limbert’s narrative is both deep and wide-ranging, drawing on a rich multilingual assemblage that includes a diverse array of sources, from Islamic jurisprudence to colonial immigration decrees to emojis posted by an Oman/Zanzibar Facebook group. Her enlightening comparative analysis offers a deep take on the relevant regional literature while advancing ongoing theoretical debates about territory and sovereignty. Limbert’s accessible comparative approach and deft presentation of a complex regional history make her article a classic example of the kind of scholarship that sets CSSH apart from other journals and an apt tribute to the namesake of the Jack Goody Award."

08/29/2026

08/28/2026

Let the Fall 2026 semester commence! Good luck to all QC students beginning classes today!

08/24/2026

08/22/2026

Queens College held its annual Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) on 8/21/26.

Check out research led by three of our wonderful anthropology students, Karina Osorio, Michal Bezalely, and Adriana Rampershad in partnership with their mentors: Prof. Tim Pugh, Megan Victor, and Murphy Halliburton.

08/22/2026

Our own Prof. Kevin Birth was quoted in the news again, offering insight onto how and why culture evolves around time. Check out the article below, which was recently published in the Associated Press: "The hidden politics of time: How clocks, calendars and time zones came to be"

Time is a concept that varies across cultures and history. While we often think of it as universal, timekeeping has been shaped by politics, religion, and economics.

08/21/2026

Psych major/anthro minor Adriana Rampershad's poster on the mental health effects of cell phone use on elderly immigrants with anthro dept mentor Prof. Murphy Halliburton. From today's Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) session.

08/10/2026

Prof. Robert Nyamushosho's archaeological research highlighting the importance of Great Zimbabwe in shaping Zimbabwe culture has been featured in the July/August 2026 issue of Archaeology Magazine.

In his words: "Together, we are rethinking how political power worked in ancient “Shona” civilizations beyond the great capitals of medieval Zimbabwe. Rather than viewing places like Mberengwa as marginal to history, our research shows that they were integral to the making of Zimbabwe culture. I have long believed that the best way to understand Great Zimbabwe is to go to the so-called “peripheries”."

If you have the opportunity, pick up a copy of the July/August 2026 issue of Archaeology and read --Inside Africa's Houses of Stone. Or if you already subscribe to Archaeology magazine, click the link below:

Archaeologists are rethinking how kings shared power beyond the great capitals of medieval Zimbabwe

08/10/2026

Prof. Kevin Birth, QC Anthropology professor whose research focuses on cultural concepts of time, was recently interviewed about daylight saving time for the Associate Press News. Getting rid of daylight saving time, he notes, will change more than just clocks.

Click the link below to read more:

The twice-yearly changing of the clocks could be a thing of the past if legislation currently in Congress that calls for permanent daylight time makes it through.