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What have you been up to since graduating from º£½ÇÖ±²¥?

After graduating from º£½ÇÖ±²¥, I spent three years in Vienna, Austria, as a high school English teaching assistant for the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science, and Research. Each summer, I returned to Maine to teach German and French in the University of Maine’s Upward Bound program. Last year, I began a master’s degree in German at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, focusing on Germanic linguistics. My current research explores language contact between German and BCMS (Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian) in Vienna.

Why anthropology?

I have always been fascinated by different cultures and languages, so anthropology was a natural choice for me. After taking an introductory course my first semester at º£½ÇÖ±²¥, I never really looked back. Though my jobs and studies since graduation have not been strictly anthropology related, I believe that majoring in anthropology prepared me for them exceptionally well. Teaching world languages also involves teaching a great deal of culture, and my degree has helped me convey this to my students, whether in an Austrian high school classroom discussing American music or in an American college classroom exploring Austrian culinary traditions.

Are there any classes, professors, or experiences that had a lasting impact on you?

Language, Identity, and Power with Krista Van Vleet and Contemporary Arctic Environmental and Cultural Issues with Susan Kaplan were probably my two favorite courses in the department. I also thoroughly enjoyed writing my honors thesis on French Canadian music in Maine, advised by Sara Dickey and Professor Van Vleet. That said, I never had an anthropology course or professor at º£½ÇÖ±²¥ I didn’t like! The faculty are all incredibly kind and supportive, and their diverse areas of expertise allow anthropology majors to explore many different facets of the human condition during their time at the College.

What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates interested in your field?

Don’t listen to the naysayers! I am especially grateful to carry its lessons with me every time I travel and whenever I interact with people from different cultures.

What have you been up to since graduating from º£½ÇÖ±²¥?

I graduated in 2020, which ended up being a pretty chaotic year. We left campus for spring break and never returned because of the pandemic, and I experienced my first virtual graduation. At first, I had a Fulbright lined up to teach English in Brazil, but with travel restrictions and the uncertainties of the pandemic, that opportunity had to be put on hold. During the two-year waiting period, I stayed busy with part-time jobs and began working in education. Eventually, I started my current role as an HR professional at a tech company. Even while working full time, I pursued graduate studies in education and anthropology at Columbia, doing ethnographic research, curriculum building, and surveys in New York City. While I could not travel, I still found ways to immerse myself in the field and gain hands-on experience in anthropological research.

Why anthropology?

I actually stumbled into anthropology. It was not something I had planned. One of my advisors suggested I take a course to fill a gap in my schedule, and I thought it would be like history, which I enjoyed. But the intro class turned out to be so engaging, and it offered a fresh perspective on colonialism and imperialism. I realized anthropology is really the study of humans and cultures, and it can be a powerful tool for understanding people, including myself. Ethnographic research, in particular, was a natural fit. It forces you to step out of your comfort zone, immerse yourself in communities, and really try to understand people’s perspectives. That experience has shaped my career in HR, where understanding people and their experiences is central to what I do.

Are there any classes, professors, or experiences in Anthropology that had a lasting impact on you?

One class that really shaped me was Law, Culture, and Society with Professor Simon May. We examined legal cases through an anthropological lens, such as corporal punishment in Singapore. From an American perspective, it might seem shocking, but approaching it anthropologically helped me understand how law functions within a culture. It was the first time I really saw anthropology as a living, breathing tool, not just a set of theories.

What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates interested in your field?

Take the courses, and take them with an open mind. I also think it is important to notice anthropology in everyday life. It could be the food served in the dining hall, fashion choices, or local customs. Observing and thinking about these moments makes anthropology a practical lens you can apply to almost anything.

What have you been up to since graduating from º£½ÇÖ±²¥?

[Editor's note: While Chantal did not major in anthropology at º£½ÇÖ±²¥, she has pursued a career in the field.]

My career trajectory was significantly shaped by my experiences at º£½ÇÖ±²¥, particularly the scholarship, perspectives, and ways of thinking that my faculty, friends, and courses introduced me to. Since º£½ÇÖ±²¥, I have worked to bridge my interests in teaching, ethnography, and public scholarship through both academic and service work. Just a few days after graduation, I moved to southern Thailand, where I began a two-year teaching fellowship with Princeton in Asia at a boarding school in a rural province. Following that position, I pursued an MA in Asian studies at Cornell University as a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellow, focusing on practices of tsunami commemoration in the same province where I had taught. This ethnographic research opened new lines of inquiry centered on the intersections of ecological change, extractive industry, and moral relations in Thailand, and motivated me to pursue a PhD in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where I am now. As part of my doctoral work, I completed long-term ethnographic fieldwork and archival research in Thailand, taught courses in anthropology, and supported undergraduate students in their honors projects. I have also worked to generate different forms of public scholarship as a way to bring anthropological research to broader audiences. I have done this through organizing public lecture series, curating artistic exhibitions and performances, and publishing my own creative ethnographic writing in various venues.

Why anthropology?

That is a wonderful question, because there are so many answers to it. I understand anthropology as an orientation to the world: a way of seeing and listening to the people we work with, and of perceiving the world around us. As a discipline, with its commitment to long-term ethnographic research and attention to culturally inflected ideas, behaviors, and concepts, anthropology allows us to better understand what people in diverse contexts and across time experience—what they value, the moral relations they cultivate, how communities negotiate economic precarity and environmental risk, how tensions arise and dissipate, and how people strive to create connections across social differences, even when those efforts falter in critical ways. It is a deeply person-centered discipline, and by person, I mean the term in its broadest sense, including other-than-human beings such as the spirits and ghosts that inhabit my field research site. This person-centered focus is what first drew me to anthropology: its dedication to understanding social complexity, and to challenging the biases, assumptions, and perspectives we carry in our own lives that inevitably shape how we see the world.

What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates interested in your field?

Anthropology, with its rigorous qualitative methodology and its culturally informed orientation to the world, is relevant across all fields of work. The research, writing, and critical thinking skills you develop through pursuing a degree in anthropology are invaluable, regardless of the career you choose after graduation. These skills allow you to meaningfully contribute to a wide range of sectors, including government, medicine, non-profit work, the tech industry, and beyond. In my own experience, my background in anthropology has shaped not only my academic work but also my roles as an analyst with the US Government Accountability Office and as a grant writer for nonprofits. In short, anthropology matters.

For those currently in anthropology programs or considering the field, I recommend staying open and curious. Let yourself play with ideas, explore regions or topics that may not have been on your radar at first. There is often immense pressure to have everything figured out, to have a career path neatly mapped. That pressure is very real, heavy, and stressful. Acknowledge it, but also allow yourself the space and time to explore. Things rarely unfold exactly as we expect, and some of the most meaningful insights and inspirations often come from unexpected places.