Gold LEAF Institute Course Catalogue

In-Person

Registration will close on Monday, September 18, 2023. 

Every semester, students in Dr. Gaelyn Aguilar’s Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course at UMF carry out a fieldwork project that is focused on interviewing a “stranger.” Come and be that stranger!

Participation on your behalf will entail bringing to the interview an object of particular importance and meaning to you. The object may be something that is worn or carried (such as a key chain, a piece of jewelry, an item of clothing, a special purse or bag, etc.), or something handed down (such as a doll, an item of furniture, a photo, etc.). Almost anything goes (no weapons!).

No matter the object, the goal for these young students will be to learn what they can about you through the object you have chosen to share with them and to reflect on the ethnographic question: What is it like to be this person? Past students have raved about how much fun it was to interact with Gold LEAFers.

This is a great opportunity for everyone involved to keep the cross-generational dialogue going. In addition to the September 20th event date, there will be a follow-up date on Wednesday, October 11, via ZOOM, when students will present what they learned. It would be nice for the Gold LEAFers who participated to attend that presentation and hear about themselves!

September 20, 2023 (in-person)  

9:30 am - 10:45 am

North Dining Hall, Olsen Student Center, UMF

NOTE: October 11, 2023, is online, (Zoom), 9:30 am.  A link will be sent to you as the date nears.

Gaelyn Aguilar is a cultural anthropologist whose work falls under the broad heading of performative ethnography, an area of interest that looks to performance as a site for both intervention and re/search.

Currently, she is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maine at Farmington in addition to being on faculty in the MFA Art Practice program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.