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Bestselling book ‘Origin’ details peopling of the Americas via latest genetic and archaeological evidence
LAWRENCE — A new book for popular audiences combines archaeology with emerging genetic evidence to tell the story of peoples from Siberia who were the first to populate the Americas some 20,000 years ago. “Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas,” written by Jennifer Raff, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas, was published this month by Twelve Books and recently has entered the New York Times’ bestseller list.
Health Humanities and Arts Research Collaborative awards seed grants to 3 interdisciplinary research teams
LAWRENCE – The Health Humanities and Arts Research Collaborative at the University of Kansas will support three partnerships in spring 2022 that advance research in health, humanities and communications. The projects, each receiving $3,000-3,500, will study the use of narrative medicine to improve the physical therapy experience, the damages of racism in the historical practice of health care, and how to build momentum to bridge climate and health at KU and across communities.
KU Department of Theatre & Design receives regional honors
LAWRENCE — Several University of Kansas faculty members, students and a staff member earned certificates of merit from a Region V judge for the Kennedy Center College Theatre Festival. They include Kansas students from Andover, Arkansas City, Chanute and Topeka. An MFA student from Novi, Michigan, took first-place awards and will advance to KCACTF nationals.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected], @BrendanMLynch
Bestselling book ‘Origin’ details peopling of the Americas via latest genetic and archaeological evidence
LAWRENCE — A new book for popular audiences combines archaeology with emerging genetic evidence to tell the story of peoples from Siberia who were the first to populate the Americas some 20,000 years ago.
“Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas,” written by Jennifer Raff, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas, was published this month by Twelve Books and recently has entered the New York Times’ bestseller list.
“This book is for everybody,” Raff said. “I hope that faculty who teach about themes in this book might find it useful for their courses as well, but it’s definitely not aimed at a scholarly audience — it’s very much for the general public, who seem to be very, very interested in the peopling of the Americas and what we know about it. It’s an exploration and an overview of the genetic and archaeological evidence for how people first got to the Americas.”
Raff’s book also explores how scientists arrived at current knowledge of the peopling of the Americas — research that has at times come at the expense of Indigenous communities.
“It’s not really a pleasant history,” Raff said. “Indigenous peoples have been very harmed by some of the research that’s been done in pursuit of an answer to the question of where and how did people get here. As I was writing this book, I thought it was important to explore that theme, as well as what the genetic and archaeological evidence shows us — these things are intertwined.”
According to the KU researcher, because of so much interest in the topic, both on a scholarly level and from the public, it’s important to understand implications of this area of study on descendants of the original peoples of the Americas.
“Genetics can be used as a tool for understanding the past, but also this area of research can harm Indigenous peoples, and we need to be mindful of that,” Raff said. “I give examples of harmful research in the book. But I also talk about examples of the good work that has been done by many archaeologists and geneticists who have worked collaboratively with tribes, developing long-term relationships and doing research together in productive and respectful partnerships.”
This, she said, is how she and her colleagues in the Department of Anthropology try to do their work.
“KU’s anthropology department has long been a leader in community-engaged anthropological genetics research, and all of us — from the chair of the department to the undergraduate researchers — prioritize respect for tribal sovereignty and care for Indigenous ancestors in our work.”
She said the state of knowledge of how the Americas were populated is “really in flux” and recent discoveries hold the potential to change the story.
“Current genetic and archaeological evidence situate the ancestors of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas first in Siberia and East Asia,” Raff said.
“There were two populations — one is ancestral to present-day East Asians; one is referred to as Ancient North Eurasians. By about 25,000 years ago, give or take, these two populations interacted and produced multiple populations, one of which became ancestral to Native Americans, and one of which stayed in Siberia.”
Raff said the population that became ancestral to Native Americans subsequently was isolated for a few thousand years during the height of the Last Glacial Maximum — a period of intense cold and dryness globally when around the world human populations retreated into refugia.
“During that period of isolation, this population evolves variants that are unique to the peoples of the Americas,” Raff said. “We don’t really know where that isolation happened, so it could have happened in Beringia itself, which was this land connection between Asia and North America that was huge — about twice the size of Texas. And during the Last Glacial Maximum at the height of the last Ice Age, paleoenvironmental reconstructions have shown there were areas within it that appear to have been decent places to live, especially along the southern coast of Beringia.”
The KU investigator said these refugia might have supported populations that were to become the original peoples of the Americas.
“In the central part of Beringia, it would have been warmer and wetter, and plants and animals and people could have lived there relatively easily,” she said. “That’s one of the places archaeologists and geneticists are pinpointing as potentially where this population was during the Last Glacial Maximum. But we don’t have a lot of direct archaeological evidence to show that, because that area is underwater now — so it’s a bit of an unsolved mystery in this history, and people could have been in other places, too; they might have been in Siberia, or even in North America, south of the massive ice sheets that were covering all of Canada.”
To underscore the mysterious nature of the migration of the first peoples into North Americas, Raff pointed to a site found in White Sands, New Mexico, which shows evidence of humans living there about 25,000 years ago.
“It’s just mind-blowing, so that’s one of the big outstanding questions — how people got into the Americas after the Last Glacial Maximum, or maybe before,” she said. “We’re still working it out. What we see in the genomes of these ancient populations is a splitting of the populations into different groups, and then there’s an interesting distribution of those groups across North and South America. That’s all in the book.”
This would likely not come as a surprise to Indigenous peoples, Raff said, because a number of tribes’ oral histories situate their origins within the Americas at a point far earlier than has been traditionally accepted by the majority of scientists. Raff would like to see more collaborations between researchers and tribes along these lines.
“Histories reconstructed from archaeological and genetic data and oral histories won’t always agree, of course, and we shouldn’t necessarily expect them to,” she said. “But there have been some fantastic cases where traditional knowledge holders have worked with researchers to interpret their findings together. This approach takes a long time, but it’s important that we non-Native scientists respect the expertise of descendant communities regarding their own histories.”
So far, “Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas” has been a critical and commercial success. In addition to making the New York Times’ bestseller list, Raff’s new book has reached as high as No. 11 on Amazon’s nonfiction bestsellers and is currently sold out on that website.
“The reason I wrote this book was because this field is so complex and intense, and research is getting published so often that changes what we know,” she said. “I thought the general public might be interested in this topic — and it turns out, they really are. I’m a little astonished by the scale of interest but very grateful to be able to bring our fascinating field to a wider audience.”
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Contact: Emily Ryan, The Commons, 785-864-6293, [email protected], @TheCommonsKU
Health Humanities and Arts Research Collaborative awards seed grants to 3 interdisciplinary research teams
LAWRENCE – The Health Humanities and Arts Research Collaborative (HHARC) at the University of Kansas has made part of its mission to support existing and emerging collaborative research at the intersection of health and humanities and arts disciplines. Along these lines, HHARC has awarded a second round of seed grant funding to support the initial stages of three research projects.
These grants made possible by the Office of Research invite applicants to develop research questions that require the experience of researchers and practitioners across disciplines and professions, and through community engagement as a member of the team. Additionally, teams are asked to build in a mentorship component so that student researchers can contribute to and learn from the collaborative experiences.
The spring 2022 projects:
“Narrative Medicine: Investigating A Tool to Improve Patient Care in Physical Therapy Practice,” led by Jessica Lemus, KU alumna in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program, now with Bird Physical Therapy practice; Stacia Troshynski Brown, clinical assistant professor of physical therapy; Hyunjin Seo, Oscar Stauffer Chair in Journalism at KU; and Nicole Marie Klevanskaya (Konopelko), junior in journalism and Russian studies. They will examine the capacity of narrative medicine to improve physical therapy experiences for patients and practitioners. In their project, patients will develop a narrative with a student journalist trained in storytelling prior to meeting their physical therapist. This project will help physical therapists better understand the narrative of the patient so that they can treat them more holistically and thus improve the patient experience in health care. This proposed project comes at a time when patient concerns are voiced about their health care providers not listening fully. Simultaneously, health care providers have less time with patients and are experiencing burnout. Improving patient/provider connection through storytelling to impact patient outcomes is at the heart of this project. The team received $3,080 to fund this work.
“Envisioning Racism and Repair: An Oral History and Photovoice Project,” led by Jason Glenn, associate professor of history and philosophy of medicine; Jill Peltzer, associate professor of nursing; Crystal Lumpkins, associate professor of family medicine & community health; and Carmaletta Williams, executive director of the Black Archives of Mid-America. Their proposed work addresses the central, two-part question of “How can academic medical centers repair the harms caused by 1) centuries of neglect, exploitation and abuse of people of color in clinical encounters, and 2) biomedical systems of knowledge that have justified this mistreatment by generating and upholding theories of race, racial difference, and racial inferiority?” This question will be examined as part of a larger initiative at KU Medical Center that aims to address racism in health care with a curricular lens. Through the use of one-on-one interviews and PhotoVoice, this project will employ methods from oral history and visual ethnography to collect community experiences of harm. Results will be validated with the community members, who will work with the research team to construct an oral history archive and ultimately an exhibition to be on view at the Black Archives. The team received $3,500 for this work.
“Community Conversations in Sustainability: Building Momentum to Bridge Climate and Health Across KU Campuses and the Community,” led by Shelley Bhattacharya, associate professor of family medicine and community health; Terrianne Lavin, assistant teaching professor in geography & atmospheric science; and Humberto Lugo, executive director of CleanAirNow. Their study centers a need to understand local effects of climate change on health and its disproportionate effects across populations. Through public programming that spans KU Lawrence and Medical Center campuses and with community leadership from Wyandotte County and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, these events will bring to light in new ways the direct impacts of climate change on health in local communities. This series of events will culminate in an intercommunity event in spring 2023 to showcase the many perspectives shared throughout the series and illustrate new connections and partnerships made toward addressing climate justice and effects on health. The team received $3,500 for this work.
The Health Humanities and Arts Research Collaborative is a cross-institutional group that invites new and current members into conversation to create connections across professionals and among researchers; share funding opportunities around humanities, arts, health and wellness; and offer a platform for collaboration around existing and emerging health-related challenges.
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Contact: Lisa Coble-Krings, Department of Theatre & Dance, 785-864-5685, [email protected], @KUTheatre, @KUDanceDept
KU Department of Theatre & Design receives regional honors
LAWRENCE— A University of Kansas student designer who presented at the recent Kennedy Center College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), Region V, received two first-place awards from the judging panel and will advance to nationals.
Lindsay Webster, a second-year MFA student from Novi, Michigan, earned National 1st Place for Costume Design. She also received a Regional 1st Place for Scenic Design. Both were for “Macbeth,” an academic project in the Department of Theatre & Dance.
Additional awards
Several KU faculty members, students and a staff member earned certificates of merit from the KCACTF Region V judge who attended and responded to the University Theatre productions:
1. Darci Jens Fulcher, visiting assistant professor for movement direction, was honored for “Musings of Fire,” spring 2021.
2. Cassandra Ludlum, a third-year student from Topeka, was honored for costume design on “The Devils Between Us,” fall 2021.
3. MacKenzie Needham, a senior from Andover, was honored for lighting design on “The Devils Between Us,” fall 2021.
4. John Dylon Rohr, a third-year MFA student from Arkansas City, was honored for costume design on “Head Over Heels,” fall 2021; “Changemakers,” spring 2021; and scenic and lighting design on “Musings of Fire,” spring 2021.
5. Ann Sitzman, technical coordinator for the department, was honored for lighting design on “Head Over Heels,” fall 2021.
6. Santiago Sosa, a former visiting assistant professor in the department, was honored for direction, adaptation and concept on “Musings of Fire,” spring 2021.
7. Webster was also honored scenic design on “Head Over Heels,” fall 2021, and projection design on “Musings of Fire,” spring 2021.
8. Jillian Wilson, a senior from Chanute, was honored for stage management on “Changemakers,” spring 2021.
The directors, playwrights, cast and entire creative team of “Changemakers” earned a commendation for collaboration. Further, the cast of “Musings of Fire” earned a commendation for ensemble performance and its production staff and crew for multimedia collaboration. Additionally, the department was invited to show scenes from “Changemakers” at KCACTF Region V Festival. A series of original short works in response to the pandemic and the fight for racial justice, “Changemakers” featured writing by commissioned, professional playwrights working alongside KU students. It is free to view this production online.
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