The Department of Anthropology Seminar Series showcases the research of faculty, graduate students, and visiting scholars as well as providing an opportunity for thematic workshops, roundtables, film screenings, and other events. The series aims to foster an intellectual community where students and faculty in anthropology and related disciplines can come together to discuss contemporary issues and debates in the field. Events in the series will take place every Friday during the fall and winter semesters from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm unless otherwise noted in the schedule below.

Fall 2019 Seminar: 

Dr. Firouz Gaini presents:

Monday, Oct 28, 2019, at 3:30 pm, room SN4022

Winter 2017 Seminar:

Dr. Sharryn Kasmir presents:

Friday, March 3, 2017, at 3:00 pm, room QC-4028

During Dr. Kasmir's fieldwork at the Saturn automobile plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee in 1998-99, a dissident union caucus delivered a stunning defeat to the entrenched leadership of their UAW local. At the time, Saturn was GM’s model plant, boasting the farthest reaching regime of labor-management cooperation in the U.S. The caucus’ victory was a protest against labor-management cooperation, and it was a referendum on the history of “competitive localism” that created Saturn and made UAW Local 1853 a different, isolated union local. The Saturn brand was terminated during GM’s bankruptcy reorganization in 2009, yet its impact on the everyday lives and futures of US autoworkers endures. In this talk, Dr. Kasmir reflects on Saturn’s legacy, particularly the consolidation of competitive localism within the UAW, and she considers the political implications of that protracted and uneven process.