Annual James C. Young Conference Addresses Anthropological Issues
By Ferda Mehmet, student intern of CHASS College Computing

The 23rd annual James C. Young Conference took place this February 14-15 in Humanities 1500. The conference was organized by graduate students and sponsored by Graduate Student Association, Graduate Division, and the Department of Anthropology. Undergraduate as well as graduate students each had 15 minutes to present papers on anthropological interests, and were followed by 5 minute question/answer sessions.

This year’s theme was "Individuals and Society: Holistic Perspectives." It pertained to all aspects of the human experience, past and present, biological and social, individual and collective. Although grounded in Anthropology, the Colloquium was focused on inter-disciplinary aspects of culture and human diversity. The conference consisted of twenty student presenters, 16 of which were graduate students and 4 of which were undergraduate students. Of the keynote speakers, Christopher Chase-Dunn and Sally Ness are Professors at UCR, while Karen Brodkin is from UCLA. Both discussants Thomas C. Patterson and Carlos C. Velez-Ibanez are Professors of Anthropology at UCR. Separate from the student presentations were 3 keynote speakers, as well as a workshop put on by 5 professors from the UCR Anthropology Department.

Students utilized this opportunity to share their research experiences, interests, and ideas with their fellow students and professors. It also contributed to the professional development of the participants with providing a valuable experience in presenting a paper at a formal setting. Committee member Chelsea Blackmore said, “The colloquium is not as intimidating as a national conference. This venture gives students the chance to share ideas and perspectives to a large but friendly audience of their colleagues, peers, and mentors." While this is an anthropology conference where papers deal with issues of concern to anthropologists, students from other departments were also invited and encouraged to present papers.