by Jodi Hunley
Daily Lobo
UNM's Department of Anthropology is turning 75 this year and to kick off the year-long celebration, a longtime Southwest archeologist is presenting a lecture on the history of the department and its research in the field.
Don D. Fowler will present "Fields of Research Peculiarly Adapted to the Environment of the University: J.F. Zimmerman, E.L. Hewett, and the Beginnings of Anthropology at UNM" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Anthropology Lecture Hall. The lecture is part of the XVI Journal of Anthropological Research Distinguished Lecture series.
Fowler, a Mamie Kleberg professor of anthropology and historic preservation at the University of Nevada, Reno, was chosen to give the lecture on the early days of UNM's Anthropology Department because he is very well known in the world of anthropology, said Lawrence Straus, an anthropology professor at UNM.
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Straus is the editor of the Journal of Anthropological Research, a quarterly bulletin of general anthropology, published by UNM since 1945.
"He is passionate about the history of anthropology in the American West," Straus said. His lecture will be based on his current archival research.
In particular, he will focus on the personalities and interactions of Edgar Lee Hewett and former UNM President James Zimmerman who co-founded the department.
Fowler will also present an informal seminar titled "What Goes Around (sometimes) Comes Around: Fads & Fashions in the Archaeology of the Greater Southwest," at noon on Friday, in Anthropology, Room 178.
The department is one of the oldest and most famous departments of anthropology, which is considered a young discipline west of the Mississippi, Straus said.
He added that the department boasts highlights such as the Maxwell Museum, the Clark Field Archives, students and faculty doing research around the world and several other anthropological endeavors.
The theme of the 75th anniversary is "From New Mexico to the World." Straus said that this is because anthropology is such a "big and amorphous field" and that UNM anthropologists work on all studies of anthropology.
Other events planned to commemorate the department's diamond jubilee are more lectures, film festivals and fundraisers. Straus said officials from the department wanted to take the opportunity to "use the event as a platform to raise funds for anthropology student scholarships."
The department has about 200 undergraduates and approximately 200 graduate students, Straus said.
