Allegheny Junior To Give Presentation at Annual Meeting of American Anthropological Association

Sept. 5, 2011 — Allegheny College junior Emma Dosch will participate in a panel presentation at the American Anthropological Association’s annual meeting in mid-November in Montreal.

An Environmental Studies major with a minor in Values, Ethics and Social Action, Dosch will present “Himalayan Transitions: Community Responses to Shifting Landscapes of Exchange” with five other college students who participated in a study abroad program in Nepal sponsored by SIT, formerly the School for International Training. The presentation is an outgrowth of their independent study projects.

The presentation by Dosch and her peers will be one of the few presentations at the conference given by undergraduate students.

The title of Dosch’s research is “The Culture of Agriculture: Farmers’ Groups and Organic Agriculture Mitigating Rural to Urban Migration in Bhutan.”

Each of the six students will have 15 minutes for a presentation, followed by a question and answer period.

“Presenting at the AAA conference this fall will allow me to revisit my research, making a stronger, more cohesive presentation and stronger conclusions,” Dosch said. “It will also present another opportunity to reflect and receive feedback on my work and method of presentation. The multi-day conference offers innumerable opportunities to glimpse the research of others in the anthropological field and network with potential resources and contacts.”

Dosch, from Alfred, N.Y., received financial support to attend the conference from a student-learning fund established by Allegheny graduate Carol Darnell Freund and her husband, William Freund Jr.

The 32nd oldest college in the nation, Allegheny will celebrate its bicentennial in 2015. One of the 40 schools featured in Loren Pope’s “Colleges That Change Lives,” Allegheny also is included among the 100 “best values” in national liberal arts colleges by Kiplinger’s, a private financial advising company.