UH Hilo anthropology students present their research in-person at nationwide conference held in Utah
Five anthro students from UH Hilo travelled in late March to Salt Lake City, UT, to present their research findings on pandemic issues at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
After a three-year hiatus from attending a live conference due to the pandemic, five anthropology students from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo travelled in late March to Salt Lake City, UT, to present their research findings at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology.
The students—Amanda Sorenson, Sarai Garcia, Evangeline Lemieux, Katrina Taylor, and Olivia Crabtree—presented their group projects that were developed in an applied anthropology course. Although the students were mentored by a faculty researcher who co-authored the studies (which focused on pandemic issues), the budding social scientists were solely responsible for their research design, data collection, and analysis.
“After three years of virtual conferences, I was so happy to facilitate these five students going in person, feeling the excitement of being at a national conference, attending talks and career workshops,” says Lynn Morrison, professor of anthropology, who also worked on the projects as mentor and researcher and accompanied the students to the conference.
“It seemed whichever session I went to, there was one of our students engaging and asking questions!” she writes in an email. “I was really proud of their enthusiasm and professionalism. They were great UH Hilo ambassadors.”
The annual meeting gives researchers, practitioners, and students from diverse disciplines and organizations the opportunity to discuss their work and consider how it can contribute to a better future. Participants come from a host of disciplines, including anthropology, geography, sociology, economics, business, planning, medicine, nursing, law, and other fields. A description on the Society for Applied Anthropology website says the “annual meeting provides a fertile venue in which to trade ideas, methods, and practical solutions, as well as an opportunity to enter the lifeworlds of other professionals.”
This year’s conference theme was “The Revolutionary Potential of the Social Sciences: Transforming Possibilities.”
Presentations
Authors Amanda Sorenson, who spearheaded the research, Sarai Garcia, Evangeline Lemieux, and Lynn Morrison presented their investigation into COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the general pubic and among health care workers in order to understand the reasoning of people who refuse the vaccine. Quantitative data collected through an anonymous survey compared the attitudes, beliefs, and perspectives on COVID and the vaccine of those who are vaccinated and those not vaccinated. The group found the biggest impacts on vaccine-reluctant people are their sources of information, the importance of group solidarity, associated demographic factors, and the negative effect those impacts are having on health-care workers.
Authors Katrina Taylor, Olivia Crabtree, and Lynn Morrison presented their investigation into operations at a local food assistance program during COVID-19. (See photo at top of story. Students Jessie Ladouceur and Junita Jentley also contributed to this research but did not travel to the conference.) The purpose of the study was to identify and understand the ways in which the Food Basket on Hawaiʻi Island is meeting the community’s changing needs during the pandemic. Methods included open-ended interviews with staff and program recipients. In an interesting exercise, the group gained insight through observation by assisting with food distribution at the Food Basket. Findings show operational and organizational changes improved the efficacy of the Food Basket program and will likely outlast the pandemic. Further, the authors assert, the changes reflect vital workplace and community cooperation.
On another project, Sorenson and Kailee Yoshimura were co-authors on Morrison’s oral presentation on “Students of Hawaiʻi Transforming Possibilities: Learning and Living During COVID-19,” which documented UH Hilo students’ challenges in adapting to the pandemic in order to maintain their mental and physical health.
The trip to Utah was sponsored by the campus program SHARP (acronym for Students of Hawaiʻi Advanced Research Program), the Department of Anthropology, and the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Engagement Support Fund, which contributed the bulk of the funding.
“Congratulations to all of your students and to you, Lynn, for representing the College of Arts and Sciences and UH Hilo so well!” says Michael Bitter, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, in a congratulatory email.
By Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
