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Thursday, December 01, 2005
Presentation is Everything
My first of two paper presentations went well. Yesterday was for my Chiefdoms course, where I talked for 15 minutes about water management, ancestor veneration, and the links between the two (I was initially attracted to USF because of my advisor’s interest in water management and environmental anthropology…the ancestor veneration part was to make it relevant to the course topic). It was my first “professional” paper presentation and my first at the USF Chiefdoms Symposium (can I put that on my resume?). I thought it went well despite the fact that I was just a little nervous in front of the huge crowd of 12 people and my professor. My draft was returned with plenty of red ink but some constructive suggestions that are going to keep me busy until the due date next Friday.
To get an idea of what makes a “good” academic presentation, just check out this list of Maxims for Malfeasant Speakers from Harvard…hilarious (and surprisingly, it did help me).
I have to give another 15-minute presentation on my Archaeological Methods paper next Tuesday. Same format and much of the same crowd, but a much different topic: using archaeological data about ancient agricultural practices in the Maya lowlands to address contemporary sustainability in the region. In a nutshell, the Ancient Maya had some pretty good farming methods but they didn’t think too far in the future and eventually degraded much of their land beyond sustainability. It’s been a rough situation ever since the collapse and European invasion, but things are getting better. I agree with many archaeologists that using aspects of ancient techniques along with sound modern technologies is the only way to ensure sustainability in the Maya region, where thousands of indigenous farmers still use some of these traditional methods. I’m basically arguing the exact same thing for my third paper this semester minus the section on a bunch of technical stuff and plus a section about advocacy, politics, policy, etc.
Posted by Will at December 1, 2005 10:47 PM in Graduate School