As students and I have been creating more zines (both through classes and research projects), we have started to build a critical mass of them. You can now find several in the Collaboratorium (Smith Lab 4180) here at OSU. Best of all, they are free!
Our zine “Infrastructural Digest” is now completed(!) and 250 copies have just been printed for the opening of the Privy2 demonstration garden. The zine features original artwork and essays by OSU students and faculty that reflect on the history of sanitation and its relationship to agriculture. You can download a copy here.
Rather than do terms papers or group presentations for my History of Anthropological Theory class this semester, I had students work in groups to develop zines based on different schools of thought. The results were better than I hoped. I saw everything from “The Communist Memefesto” to a Postcolonial “Dear Abby” Column to even a Twitter battle fought between Tylor and Boas. I’ve attached the scaffolded assignments from the project here (#1, #2, and #3) for those who might be curious in tinkering with the model for other classes. The best part is that they are actually fun to grade.
Amazônica just published a short interview and photo essay that I helped develop with friends while living in Iquitos, Peru in 2016. Roldan (the first author) is an anthropology student at La Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, and the essay captures his first trip home after living in Iquitos for a year and a half.
Last week, we printed off the first zine produced by the Culture & Agriculture section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). It’s a collaborative effort with essays, art, and conversations on the history, making, and sharing of mead (honey wine). A special shout-out goes to Jon Tanis who handled the orchestration and assemblage, and really made the thing come alive.
We’re eager to get the zine into your hands, and we will have print copies available at the AAA Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. this November. We’d also love for you to check out the “Cultures of Fermentation” roundtable that Jim Veteto and I organized for the AAA meeting, which will be held Saturday, Dec. 2nd at 10:15 AM. The zine will be there and you might even be able to sample some meads with us.
You can find electronic versions of the zine (in both reader and print formats) on the C&A website if you who want to take a sneak peak or even print out some copies of your own. Feel free to distribute it and let us know what you think!
