Events & Speakers

Each year the Department of Anthropology invites distinguished speakers to address the department in conjunction and consultation with the undergraduate Anthropology Society. This lecture series was established in 2010 in the name of two former professors who had been crucial contributors to undergraduate education during their years at Western.

Because sociocultural/linguistic anthropology and biological anthropology/archaeology represent two main streams in the field of Anthropology, the Gehman Lecture will be delivered by a sociocultural anthropologist or linguistic anthropologist, and the Spence Lecture will be delivered by a biological anthropologist or an archaeologist.  It is part of the mandate of this series that lectures be on topics of broad interest and open to all undergraduate students in the Department.

Additionally, the Darnell Distinguished Lecture in Theory, Ethnography and Activism in Anthropology, established in 2018, is our annual Distinguished Lecture series

Information will be updated on a regular basis as new speakers and events are added to our line-up. 

Upcoming Events 2024-25

Friday, November 8, 8:30am -2:00pm, SSC 3227 & 3102

High School Outreach Event

 Previously Recorded Lectures

Graduate Research & Development Sessions - 2024-25

The Graduate & Research Development Sessions (GRaDS) are held on Fridays and feature graduate students (and sometimes faculty) speakers presenting their research results on a wide variety of topics. On some Fridays, other kinds of workshops or sessions may also be held in this time slot. The GRaDS are held on Fridays, 1:30-2:30pm in SSC 2257.

2024-25 Schedule (coming soon)

Past Events

  • November 1, 2024 - Beth Compton PhD Public Lecture
  • October 21, 2024 - Dr. Rae Jereza - Considering Online  Hate as "White Noise"
  • July 3, 2024 - Tamara Britton PhD Public Lecture
  • June 19, 2024 - Franziska Albrecht PhD Public Lecture
  • April 3, 2024 - Spence Lecture - Dr. Tina Lasisi - Hair as a Model for Phenotypic Complexity
  • March 16, 2024 - WAGS Annual Graduate Student Conference "Defining Ties: Relationships at the Heart of Anthropological Research"
  • January 25, 2024 - Darnell Lecture - Dr. Andrea Ballestero -Joining Forces with Water! Deciphering Aquifers and Stretching the Imagination Downwards
  • November 14, 2023 - Gehman Lecture - Dr. Danilyn Rutherford, "The Wenner-Gren Foundation and What’s Next in Anthropology" (View the recorded lecture here.)
  • October 17, 2023 - Dr. Andrea Allen, "Joy & Healing: Indigenous & Black Perspectives"
  • March 27, 2023 - Gehman Lecture - Ilana Gershon
  • March 17, 2023 - Spence  Lecture - Kisha Supernant (View the recorded lecture here.)
  • March 11, 2023 - WAGS Annual Graduate Student Conference "Choosing Our Words Wisely"
  • December 13, 2022 - Federica Guccini PhD Public Lecture
  • December 1, 2022 - Dr. Hannah McElgunn (Queen's University) "What Does Indigenous Repatriation Sound Like? An Example from the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office"
  • November 22-26, 2022 - Exhibit "Defiça Portrayals: a Brazilian Gaze on Disability", organized by visiting scholar Nadia Meinerz & Pamela Block
  • November 14, 2022 - Dr. Jonathan Rosa (Department of Anthropology, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Stanford University) - "Latinx Languages & Identities Beyond Borders"
  • February 28, 2020 - Dr. Craig Cipolla (Royal Ontario Museum/University of Toronto) - "In Search of Different Pasts"
  • February 6-9, 2020 - Dr. Petra Kuppers (University of Michigan)
  • January 16, 2020 - Lauren Gilhooly - PhD Public Lecture
  • October 15, 2019 - Spence Lecture- Dr. Shari Forbes (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières) -"What happens AFTER death?: Taphonomyof human decomposition and the role of ‘body farms’
  • August 23, 2019 - Casey Kirkpatrick - PhD Public Lecture
  • August 21, 2019 - Danielle Alcock - PhD Public Lecture
  • August 16, 2019 - Diana Moreiras Reynaga - PhD Public Lecture
  • May 28, 2019 - Kelly Linton - PhD Public Lecture
  • April 18, 2019 - Jennifer Spinney - PhD Public Lecture
  • April 18, 2019 - Bimadoshka Pucan - PhD Public Lecture
  • April 4 & 5, 2019 - Christine Hegel (Western Connecticut State University)  & Luke Cantarella (Pace University) - Collaborative CoDesigning Presentation & Workshop
  • March 22, 2019 - Dr. Pamela Block - Stony Brook University - "How Should Anthropologists Occupy Disability?"
  • March 20, 2019 - Bruce Lawrence - PhD Public Lecture
  • March 15, 2019 - Gehman Lecture - Dr. Michael Cepek - University of Texas at San Antonio - "Standing with Oil: Anthropological Ethics and Activism on an Amazonian Petro-Frontier"
  • March 14, 2019 - Visualizing Fieldwork Lecture & Workshop - Ethnocine Film Collective
  • March 13, 2019 - Bad Feminists Making Films - Ethnocine Collective
  • March 1-3, 2019 - WAGS 7th Annual Graduate Student Conference
  • December 4, 2018 - Anthro Lecture Series - Dr. Adrienne Lo, University of Waterloo, "Encountering the Global"
  • November 23, 2018 - Spence Lecture - Dr. Thijs van Kolfschoten, Leiden University, Netherlands, "Wooden Spears and Broken Bones: Lower Paleolithic hominin subsistence at Schöningen, Germany"
  • October 22, 2018 - John Moody - PhD Public Lecture
  • October 5, 2018 - Nathan Dawthorne - PhD Public Lecture
  • October 4, 2018 - Mingyuan Zhang - PhD Public Lecture
  • June 18, 2018 - Elaine McIlwraith - PhD Public Lecture
  • March 29, 2018 - Dr. Scott MacEachern - Bowdoin College, “The Landscapes of Boko Haram" - Co-sponsored by Western's Africa Institute and the Dept. of History.
  • March 16, 2018 - Gehman Lecture - Dr. Jason de León - University of Michigan, “Soldiers and Kings: Photoethnographic Practice in the Context of Smuggling across Mexico"
  • March 9-10, 2018 - WAGS 6th Annual Graduate Conference
  • February 27, 2018 - Inaugural Regna Darnell Distinguished Lecture - Dr. Joshua Smith, "Boas Died for our Sins: An Anthropologist Manifesto"
  • December 15, 2017 - Jordon Munizzi - PhD Public Lecture
  • November 29, 2017 - Spence Lecture - Dr. James Conolly, Trent University, "It's about time: Radiocarbon modelling and the absolute chronology of Ontario's archaeological culture history"
  • November 22, 2017 - Graduate Program Open House
  • October 26, 2017 - Catherine Villar - PhD Public Lecture
  • October 23, 2017 - Gehman Lecture - Dr. Katja Neves - Concordia University, “Post-Normal Conservation: Reordering Biodiversity Governance”
  • October 20, 2017 - Mathew Teeter - PhD Public Lecture
  • October 20, 2017 - Lina Johnston - PhD Public Lecture
  • September 8, 2017 - Michael Carter - PhD Public Lecture
  • April 24, 2017 - Paulina Johnson - PhD Public Lecture
  • February 24, 2017 - The Franz Boas Speakers' Series - Dr. Mark Turin - University of British Columbia, "Collaborations in Language: From Documentation to Resurgence"
  • December 8, 2016 - Joshua Dent - PhD Public Lecture
  • December 7, 2016 - Dr. Andrea Waters-Rist - Leiden University "Novel Biorachaeological Research on Breastfeeding and Weaning Practices in Past Populations"
  • November 23, 2016 - Dr. Jay Stock - University of Cambridge "Skeletal variation, behaviour, and ecology: Interpreting human adaptability and resilience in the past"
  • October 13 & 14, 2016 - Spence Lecture -- Professor Michael E. Smith - Arizona State University "A New View of Teotihuacan Society" (Oct. 13), "At Home with The Aztecs" (Oct. 14)
  • October 12, 2016 - Lecture -- Professor Sahar Saleem, University of Cairo, Egypt "Scanning the Pharaohs"
  • October 12, 2016 - Laura Kelvin - PhD Public Lecture
  • May 24, 2016 - Maricarmen Vega - PhD Public Lecture
  • March 7, 2016 - Gehman Lecture --Heather Paxson, Massachesetts Institute of Technology "The Life of Cheese: Negotiating the Values of an Unfinished Commodity"
  • January 8, 2016 - Spence Lecture --Professor Peter Dawson, University of Calgary "Smart Heritage and the Future of Digital Archaeology in northern Canada"
  • December 16, 2015 - Megan Lowthers - PhD Public Lecture
  • December 3, 2015 - Joshua Smith - PhD Public Lecture
  • October 9, 2015 - Symposium: Will the Real Franz Boas Stand Up?
  • September 19 & 20, 2015 -- Museum of Archaeology Annual Harvest Festival & Pow Wow
  • August 27, 2015 - James Keron - PhD Public Lecture
  • August 19, 2015 - Ian Puppe - PhD Public Lecture
  • May 19, 2015 - Zoe Morris - PhD Public Lecture
  • April 22, 2015 - Flannery Surette - PhD Public Lecture
  • March 3, 2015 -- Historian Greg Smithers - Virginia Commonwealth University
    "The Elimination of the Negro Type": Franz Boas, Anthropology and the Plasticity of Humankind".
  • January 8, 2015 - Jordan Downey - PhD Public Lecture
  • Dec 2 & 3, 2014 -- Dr. Carl Knappett, University of Toronto
    "Modelling Belief in Minoan Art" (Dec 2);
    "Dysfunctional Design and Poor Substitutes - A seminar on Material Culture" (Dec 3)
  • November 14, 2014 -- Spence Lecture: Dr. Andrew Roddick, McMaster University
    "From Ethnography to Radiography: Constellations of Potting Practice in the Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia"
    Sponsored by the Social Science Student Donation Fund.
  • November 6, 2014 -- Gehman Lecture: Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter, Marshall University, West Virginia
    "Doing Ethnography Today"
  • October 9, 2014 - Alex Golub - Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Manoa
    "Cause and Effect: Responsibility for Social Disorder at the Porgera Gold Mine"
  • October 2, 2014 - MER presents Professor Dan Jorgensen - Chair, Department of Anthropology
    “First Phones in Last Places: Mobility and Cell Phone Use in Papua New Guinea”
  • October 16, 2013 - Gehman Lecutre - Dr. John Barker, University of British Columbia "The First and Last Place: How New Guinea Matters"