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Miles Richardson's book deemed "a stunning achievement" in JSH review.

Miles Richardson's book Being-in-Christ and Putting Death in Its Place: An Anthropologist's Account of Christian Performance in Spanish America and the American South (Louisiana State University Press, 2003) was reviewed in the Journal of Southern History, Vol. 73, No. 4, November 2007. An excerpt:

"This book is a stunning achievement, a mature study by a brilliant scholar who draws from ethnographic detail, historical understanding, philosophical questioning, and interdisciplinary theoretical sophistication. It is a work that should be seen as a premier text in any attempt to place the American South in relationship to other cultures. . . . .The sweep of this magisterial book includes architectural styles, theological justifications, and such popular religious experiences as pilgrimages to shrines and southern homecomings. Richardson's wide-ranging intelligence draws relevant quotations from Miguel de Unamuno, Jacques Derrida, and Hank Williams in this tour de force, an altogether original study." (Charles Reagan Wilson, University of Mississippi) 2008

Larry Kiage, who received his doctorate in Geography from LSU in 2007, was presented the Nystrom Award by the Association of American Geographers at their annual meeting in Boston in April. The award annually recognizes the best dissertation in geography from new scholars. Kiage’s dissertation, “Vegetation Change and Land Degradation in the Lake Baringo Basin, Kenya, East Africa: Evidence from the Paleorecord,” was one of two selected for the 2007 award. In addition to a monetary award, Kiage will also be invited to submit his dissertation for consideration for publication in The Professional Geographer, a quarterly journal published by AAG. He is currently an assistant professor of geosciences at Georgia State University. 2008

Margaret Wrenn, Anthropology major, has been named the Outstanding Senior in the College of Arts & Sciences.  She has been accepted into the Anthropology M.A. Program for the fall. 2008

Amanda Evans has been selected as the 2008 Women Divers Hall of Fame/Cecelia Connelly memorial Scholarship recipient. This $2,500 scholarship was awarded to assist her with college tuition/fees or field study costs. The scholarship presentations will be held in conjunction with the 2008 WDHOF Member Induction Ceremonies. These take place the weekend of March 28-30 during the "Beneath the Sea" Dive Expo in Secaucus, NJ. 2008

LSU Attends SWAAG

LSU Geographers made a strong showing at the annual SWAAG meeting held in Bryan, Texas.  Faculty and students presented papers, and Russell Fielding won second place in the Mid-South ASPRS student paper competition.  Next's years meeting will be held in San Marcos, Texas, make plans to join us.

The LSU contingent is shown below passing through customs to enter the Republic of Texas. 2007

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New Department Hires

Miles Richardson Appointed Professor Emeritus

Miles Richardson has been appointed Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography & Anthropology. Miles retired from the Department this May after over forty years of dedicated teaching, distinguished research, and extraordinary service to LSU. Miles is proud of being from Palestine, Texas. Although he never finished high school, he attended college after military service in the Korean War, and earned a B.S. at Stephen F. Austin State College in 1957. His PhD in Anthropology was granted in 1965, at Tulane University; his dissertation research was published as a monograph, San Pedro, Columbia; Small Town in a Developing Society, which continues in print, and is widely used in teaching ethnography and Latin American anthropology. Miles is the editor of three books, and the author of three more, most recently his celebrated 2003 publication Being-in-Christ and Putting Death in Its Place: An Anthropologist's Account of Christian Performance in Spanish America and The American South, with LSU Press. He has published over fifty articles, some in Spanish, articulating his humanistic approach across all fields of anthropology; this range and depth of scholarly production is truly remarkable. Several of his papers, most notably “Being-in-the-Market versus Being-in-the-Plaza,” and “Anthropologist The Myth-Teller” have been reproduced in several anthologies. He has also published works of fiction and poetry. He has been active in the American Anthropological Association, especially in the Society for Humanistic Anthropology; he edited the journal Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly from 1984-1990. He was a founding member of Southern Anthropological Society in 1965, and has served this organization in many capacities over the years, including as President. He is a longtime member of the Association of American Geographers, and frequently presents papers in that venue. Before coming to LSU, Miles taught at Indiana State College of Pennsylvania, and over the years has been a Visiting Scholar at Princeton, the University of Texas Austin, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. At LSU, Miles has taught thousands of students, and directed numerous MA Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. Two of the dissertations he directed won the LSU Distinguished Dissertation Award. These numbers cannot convey the devotion that Miles' students have for him; to say that he is beloved by his students is not exaggeration. Former students keep in touch, and eagerly seek him out at conferences. Current students respectfully attended the recent memorial service for Miles' daughter. Miles held the Fred B. Kniffen Chair from 1989-1997, and was awarded the Doris Z. Stone Professorship in 1997. In 2005, he received both the LSU 2005 Distinguished Faculty Award and the Brij Mohan Distinguished Professor Award. His service to LSU includes diligent work on every Departmental Committee, many College and University Committees, terms on both the A&S College Senate and the Faculty Senate, and two stints at Department Chair. He has been President of the LSU Chapters of both Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi. On May 12, a pool-side party was held at the home of Patrick Hesp and Graziela da Silva in honor of Miles. The standing room only crowd of Miles' colleagues, past and present students, and friends celebrated and reminisced about his many years in the department. Retired geography professor and former department chair Bill Davidson emceed the event, saying that in all his years in academia, he knew of no other professor who was so beloved by his students as Miles. The department presented Miles with a gift of original artwork (click here to view) created by Mary Lee Eggart, research associate in the Cartographic Section. The guests were then treated to Miles' rendition of "Your Cheatin' Heart," accompanied by Patrick Hesp on guitar. Although now retired, Miles will continue to subvert the dominant paradigm. 2007

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Endowed Professorships Announced

On May 31, 2007, the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences announced the selection of

Jill Brody for the Fred B. Kniffen Professorship

Patrick Hesp for the Richard J. Russell Professorship,

Robert Tague for James J. Parsons Professorship.

NEW EDITOR FOR GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

The American Geographical Society has named Craig E. Colten of Louisiana State University as editor for the Geographical Review. Dr. Colten will edit volumes 97-99, i.e., those for years 2007-2009. He is the Carl O. Sauer Professor of Geography. For the past six years he has co-edited Historical Geography. His most recent book, An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from Nature, won the J. B. Jackson Prize for 2005.

Three other members of the LSU faculty will serve on the editorial team: Dydia DeLyser and Andrew Sluyter as associate editors and Kent Mathewson as book review editor. The new editor is accepting manuscripts now, at LSU’s Department of Geography & Anthropology, 227 Howe-Russell, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4105 and at greditor@lsu.edu. Outgoing editors, Douglas Johnson and Viola Haarmann will complete volumes 95 and 96 and correspondence pertaining to those should continue to go to them. –Deborah E. Popper, Chair, GR Search Committee. 2006