About
"This is who you think we are...this is who we really are."
This exhibit was created by students Megan Ashbrook and Araceli Medina, from Miami University. Both the online and physical exhibits were part of a project for our Anthropology Capstone course.
​
The aim is to make anthropology more accessible to the public and demonstrate its importance towards social change.
​
Diversity and inclusion is an important topic to address within the Miami community as well as the rest of the world, and this exhibit is a way to create a dialogue and communicate what diversity is and could be.
Megan Ashbrook
ELevator pitch thing-y
Megan Ashbrook
As a part of my study abroad in China, I spent a week in Tibet. In a Tibetan outdoor cultural performance, I recognized power and identity marginalization. Returning to Miami University I developed an archaeological paper in response to the performance's story. Using the story's definition of 'civilization', I demonstrated through the archaeological record that Tibet was 'civilized' before China reached Tibet. I continued to explore my interest in power and identity during my research at Tel Akko in Israel, I helped teach local students how to excavate and about the history of their city. Through my dialogue with them and interaction with professional Israeli archaeologists, I was able to understand modern power dynamics. I see myself being able to advocate for living communities and give a different perspective on identity. Foremost, my research in Israel trained me in archeology methods: excavation, survey, and ceramic analysis.
​
This semester I am continuing my training in archaeological methods. In my internship, I am learning photogrammetry and its application to better understand the past. In my capstone, I am learning leadership in an archaeological setting by being a crew chief for our excavation and facilitating two of our in-class exercises.
My second major East Asian Languages and Cultures, has given me conversational Chinese abilities and a deep understanding of people different from me. Having lived abroad in two countries, I am adaptable to new situations, can work well in teams, and have creative problem solving skills. As I traveled abroad, I noticed differences in power dynamics and identity in modern cultures. As I demonstrated in my post-study abroad paper, archaeology equips me to study these facets of human life in the past to benefit us.
Araceli Medina
To me, museums are exciting and have the potential to tell important narratives to better understand our society and others. I would like to add to these narratives and work towards educating the public through museum collections. I would like to accomplish this by telling narratives that work towards social change and highlighting the diversity in our country. I believe my degree in anthropology can serve as a beneficial perspective since I have learned to take a holistic approach, meaning I have the tools to analyze and approach issues from various perspectives. Additionally, with my degree in Spanish, I have mastery in a second language, which can serve as an asset especially when communicating with others. I have developed many important skills such as critical thinking and analysis, research, and working with others. I have a strong work ethic, as seen through my leadership involvement as president of an organization as well as being an intern in collections management. These experiences give me the certainty that I can work towards accomplishing my goals and using museology as a tool to make sense of our world.