|
Home
What
is the Colporteurs Program?
Colporteurs
&
Events
Join
About Us
Contact Us
Links |
About Us
FOLK's
conception belongs to a sunny afternoon in December 2007 inside the
Ethnoecology and Biodiversity lab in the University of Georgia's
Anthropology Department. With bellies full of sweet potato biscuits,
collard greens, and fudge
brought
for the Anthropology of
Landscape and Memory's final
class meeting and family-recipe pot-luck, undergraduate
anthropology students Zach Anderson, Daniel Jordan, and Abigail Zylla, lingered in the lab and
engaged in conversation about general loss of local memory and
traditions. Dr Nazarea walked up and said, "Why don't we make something
happen then?" The rest is history as recorded in a series of meetings,
grant proposals, graphics documents, HTML, phone calls, emails,
calendars, and menus.
The members of FOLK share a common
interest in cultural memory and concern for the loss of traditional
knowledge. Under the guidance of Dr Virginia Nazarea, FOLK and the
Colporteurs-in-Residence Program were designed to provide a venue for
transmission of those forms of knowledge that reside in the margins of
society and are often overlooked. |
|
 Zach
Anderson has a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from UGA with a minor and a certificate
in Ecology and Environmental Ethics respectively. As a (mostly) native
Athenian he has always been interested in the crossing of cultures that
takes place around us, and through anthropology has found a way to make
studying it his life's work. When not glued to a computerfor his job he enjoys music, backpacking,
cycling, and a nice glass of homebrew.
|
 Ellen Bagwell is a third-year Anthropology,
Spanish, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies major from
Lawrenceville, GA. Having spent five Spring Breaks in Peru,
Ellen
enjoys pursuing a better understanding of the relationship among
people, culture, and sustainable land use in South America. A lot of
her time is spent focusing on organics and the art of being a deejay,
as well as the promotion and awareness of local artists, musicians, and
farmers. Ellen appreciates a beautiful hike in the mountains, an early
morning kayak trip, and homemade hummus. |
 John Hand is a
fifth-year senior at UGA majoring in Anthropology with a minor in
Religion. Since transferring to Athens in
2007 he has been interested in how local culture affects
consciousness on
different levels and scales. He spends
much of his time studying and working for the University with student
organizations like the Anthropology Society, Lambda Alpha, and Athens
Insights. In his free time he enjoys,
gardening, food, art, and meditation. |
|
Daniel
Jordan is a fourth-year
at UGA majoring in Anthropology and Comparative Literature. He hails
form Birmingham, AL. At school, he spends his time
with either his studies or music, and out of school he enjoys
backpacking, photography, and more studies and music. For no reason in
particular, he has neither read any of the Harry
Potter books nor seen the movies.
|
|
 Abigail
Zylla (Abby) is a fourth-year
student at UGA majoring in Anthropology, minoring in Religion and
Women's Studies, and working towards certificates in Environmental
Ethics and Global Issues. She gravitates toward anthropology with a
desire to break her own personal cultural boundaries and expand her
mind in the context of unfamiliar physical, intellectual, and
philosophical settings. Activism is a large part of who she is, and her
long-term aspirations are to devote herself to a life in applied
anthropology, working toward environmental conservation and
sustainability on an international level, from the approach of
multivocal political and social movement. Most of her time now is
devoted to school, work, and projects like the undergraduate
Anthropology Society, FOLK, and Athens Insights, but when she gets the
chance she can be found following passions of literature, art, and
music. |
|
 Dr.
Virginia Nazarea, a professor of
anthropology at the University of Georgia, has, through her highly
original research and writing, articulated the novel perspective that
local knowledge and cultural memory can counteract the loss of
biodiversity. Her position — that biodiversity is nurtured in
marginal spaces that provide a sense of place, belonging and resistance
affords people a degree of sovereignty — is a radical
departure from science’s earlier focus on macro trends and
programmatic design. Her work has been influential in redirecting the
focus of research and development in academic programs, international
centers and interdisciplinary research projects to instead focus
attention on the role of indigenous peoples, women, elders, subsistence
farmers and small-scale gardeners in conserving biodiversity.
|
