Hello from the new Chair of the Anthropology department!

 

I have succeeded Homes Hogue, who retired in 2022 after 15 years as a professor here at Ball State. Her time as chair brought many improvements to the department and she helped to steer us through the tough times that accompanied Covid-19. She is currently enjoying her retirement in coastal North Carolina.

One thing that I remember about Dr. Hogue is that she was a great storyteller. Whether telling stories of her early days as an archaeologist in Israel or relating her latest travel adventures, she practiced the art of storytelling. Culture, anthropologist Clifford Geertz once wrote, is “the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.” These are the most important stories we can tell.

Anthropology is, at its core, a series of stories that emerge from cultural encounters in particular places and times. During your time at Ball State, you heard many stories from the faculty, including stories of our own intellectual trajectories and tales from the field.

Now it is your turn to tell your stories. We have the facts from some of you, and now we’d love to hear the tales. Tell us what you have been up to since graduation. Please share your stories – we would love to feature them on the College of Sciences and Humanities blog and the Anthropology website! Send your updates to Dr. Erickson or any of the faculty.

 

Robert F. Phillips

Chair of the Department of Anthropology

 

For more information, please visit the College of Sciences & Humanities website and read more about previous letters from the chair.