SAR News 
SAR Resident Scholar Colloquium Preview: Alanna Warner-Smith Examines Labor and Inequality in Nineteenth-Century New York City
Join us on November 4 at 2 p.m. (MST) to hear Warner-Smith discuss “Working Hands, Indebted Bodies: The Bioarchaeology of Labor and Inequality in an Era of Progress.” She is PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Syracuse University and will be speaking as part of our fall Scholar Colloquia series. This online event is free and open to the public.
SAR Press Top Reads: Politics and Power
Although almost any aspect of life can be understood as political in some way, SAR Press has chosen five books on traditionally political subjects—sovereignty, democracy, language revitalization, elections, and walls—for our latest top reads.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Greatest Hits: An Annotated Short List by SAR In-Depth Course Instructor Michael Hindus
With the passing of Supreme Court justice and cultural icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we asked Michael S. Hindus to share just a few of her “greatest hits”: influential decisions that have supported equality and improved the lives of women and men around the country.
How to Publish Your First Book: SAR Press Talks to Nicholas Barron
SAR Press is starting a new blog series comprised of interviews with scholars of color, first-generation scholars, and other scholars from marginalized communities who have recently published or are in the midst of publishing their first book and who can offer guidance and encouragement to colleagues who are just starting to think about publishing. We hope that these interviews make a small contribution to supporting junior scholars as they begin the publishing process.
SAR Resident Scholar Colloquium Preview: Robert Caldwell and the Genealogy of a Map
Join us on October 21 at 2 p.m. (MDT) to hear Caldwell discuss “Indians in Their Proper Place: Culture Areas, Linguistic Stocks, and the Genealogy of a Map.” He is an assistant professor in the School of Arts and Sciences at SOWELA Technical Community College and will be speaking as part of our fall Scholar Colloquia series. This online event is free and open to the public.
Honoring a Life of Creativity and Artistic Talent
On Saturday, September 26, 2020, 2019 Rollin and Mary Ella King artist fellow Tim Edaakie passed away. Tim was a member of the Zuni Tribal Community and a potter. Last winter, SAR had the opportunity to talk with Tim about his work. We are honored to share the interview recorded with him in tribute to this wonderful artist.
SAR Resident Scholar Colloquium Preview: Alina R. Méndez and the Bracero Program
Join us on October 7 at 2 p.m. (MDT) to hear Méndez discuss “Subsidized Labor: The Bracero Program in the Imperial Valley–Mexicali Borderlands, 1942–1969.” She is an assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington and will be speaking as part of our fall Scholar Colloquia series. This online event is free and open to the public.
In the Vault: A Beautifully Made Basket
SAR Indian Arts Research Center staff members reflect on their favorite pieces from the collections. Read about the basket selected by IARC registrar Jennifer Day.
SAR Remembers Sally Merry
The School for Advanced Research and the profession of anthropology mourn the passing on September 8 of Sally Engle Merry, who at the time of her death was the Silver Professor of Anthropology at New York University. Prior to her NYU appointment, she served on the faculty of Wellesley College for many years.
Industrializing Animal Life and Death: A Conversation with Alex Blanchette
Alex Blanchette was SAR’s 2012–2013 Weatherhead resident scholar, co-organizer of the 2016 Advanced Seminar “How Nature Works,” and co-editor of How Nature Works: Rethinking Labor on a Troubled Planet, published by SAR Press in 2019. SAR recently spoke with him about his new book and the effects of COVID-19 on the meatpacking industry.
SAR Welcomes 2020–2021 Resident Scholars
We are pleased to announce SAR’s 2020–2021 resident scholars. Fellows develop their work on our unique campus, which provides a combination of solitude, freedom from institutional responsibilities, and lively exchange of ideas.
SAR Mourns the Passing of Daniel T. “Bud” Kelly, Jr.
The School for Advanced Research (SAR) joins the community in mourning the loss of longtime friend, supporter, SAR board member (1969–1989) and former board chair Daniel T. “Bud” Kelly, Jr., who passed away on August 18, 2020, at the age of ninety-nine. Bud was directly involved in the evolution of SAR during some of its most transformative years.
SAR Welcomes New 2020 Board Members: Perspectives from the Arts, Law, Academics, and Business Community
The School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is pleased to welcome five new members to the board of directors: Helen Brooks, Elizabeth Glassman, June Lorenzo, Rick Vaughan, and Scott Waugh.
In the Vault: Perfectly Balanced – Zuni Earrings
SAR Indian Arts Research Center staff members reflect on their favorite pieces from the collection. Read on about these unique earrings selected by former IARC collections manager Lisa H. Barrera.
Abolishing Immigration Detention: A Conversation with Deborah Boehm
Deborah A. Boehm was a 2013 visiting research associate at SAR and is now a professor in the Department of Anthropology and chair of the Department of Gender, Race, and Identity at the University of Nevada, Reno. She will be participating in a conversation with Jason De León and other scholars during SAR’s Beyond Borders Symposium on August 21, 2020, 10:00 a.m. MDT. We spoke about her year as a Mellon/ACLS Scholars & Society fellow and her most recent work on the US immigration detention system.
Diversity and Inclusion: A Conversation with John Nieto-Phillips
In August of 2019, Professor John Nieto-Phillips joined SAR’s board of directors. He has brought to SAR a dedication to opening academic institutions to underrepresented communities and has helped develop anti-bias workshops for faculty who serve on hiring committees,...
A New Way of Connecting: SAR Virtual Happy Hours
“In the time of the pandemic, SAR has created thoughtful, interesting online programs with internationally renowned scholars that provide the participants and speaker the opportunity for conversation with each other.” Lauren Prescott reflects on SAR’s newest program of virtual happy hours with leading scholars and artists. Read on to learn how you can join the conversations.
Processing a Pandemic: A Conversation with Alan Swedlund
To understand pandemics you have to know what’s going on in the small places because a pandemic is not uniform around the country or uniform by age or uniform by class or anything.
In the Vault: Coil and Sifter Basket, Pootsaya
SAR Indian Arts Research Center staff members reflect on their favorite pieces from the collection. Read on about a unique work by Iva Honyestewa, 2014 Eric and Barbara Dobkin fellow, selected by IARC Administrative Assistant, Daniel Kurnit.
Mentors and Friends: SAR’s 2019–2020 Resident Scholars
Every year SAR welcomes a new cohort of resident scholars, who spend nine months studying, writing, and participating in the intellectual life of the campus. As usual, the 2019–2020 scholars brought with them a variety of interests and projects, but they came together in their appreciation of the time, the place, and the community they found here.
Bearing Witness and Raising Awareness: A Conversation with Jason De León
Jason De León, SAR’s 2013–2014 Weatherhead fellow and a 2017 MacArthur fellow, is a professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and director of the Undocumented Migration Project, a non-profit research-art-education-media collective. I recently spoke with him to learn more about his new exhibition: Hostile Terrain 94.
In the Vault: Miniature Basket Illustrates the Big Impact of Tiny Things
Over the last few weeks, SAR Indian Arts Research Center staff members have spent some time reflecting on their favorite pieces from the collection. Here is one of the pieces that was selected by IARC collections assistant Molly Winslow.
Exclusive Video Interview with Leah Mata Fragua: Everyone and Everything Is a Teacher
Northern Chumash artist Leah Mata Fragua wants her art to make you stop and think about how the world is changing around you—for better or worse.
IARC Native Artist Fellow Ian Kuali’i Interviewed by Smithsonian Magazine
Paper. Spray paint. Yucca fibers. Hip-hop. Pick your medium, and there is a decent chance that IARC 2019 Ronald and Susan Dubin Native artist fellow Ian Kuali’i has at least dabbled in it.
SAR Fellows Pivot from Couture to Face Masks
Face masks are now required in many public spaces around the country. “These are things we never thought would become a fashion necessity,” says Dorothy Grant (Haida), one of two recent SAR fellows who are uniquely positioned to help fulfill our new need for face coverings.
From SAR Press: Elites
Almost every week brings an announcement related to the growth of open access in scholarly publishing: new studies, partnerships, and innovations. Over the past six months or so, I have begun my own experiment with open access at SAR Press and chosen one of our classic Advanced Seminar volumes to make openly available on the website: Elites, edited by George Marcus and published in 1983.
SAR Launches SAR Impacts: A New Video Series and Members-Only Conversations with Scholars and Artists
The School for Advanced Research is now highlighting the stories of its scholars and artists in a whole new way. SAR Impacts is a new video series that explores the work of one scholar or artist and showcases its impact and relevance to our world today. “The work of...
“It’s a conversation”: The President’s Circle Field Trip to Los Angeles
Trip participants hear from Amy Gusick, associate curator of anthropology, during a behind-the-scenes tour of the collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Photo by Kitty Leaken. “I love museums, and I love getting back behind the...
Former SAR Scholar Carla Sinopoli Highlights Museums’ Contribution during Current Health Crisis
Former SAR Weatherhead fellow and director of the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology Carla Sinopoli shares some of the ways she and her staff are supporting patrons during the pandemic and discusses the importance of museums at this time.
New Mexico in a Time of Influenza
SAR Scholar-In-Residence, Nancy Owen Lewis, author of Chasing the Cure in New Mexico: Tuberculosis and the Quest for Health, shares a guest post exploring the impact of the 1918 flu in New Mexico and lessons to be learned within the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic.