Kristi Rhead

I am working on an anthropological-historical project about Réunion Island, a small volcanic, mountainous, beautiful island in the Southern Indian Ocean that is fully administratively integrated into France and the European Union. Never a home to an indigenous population, Réunion's current population is composed of waves of immigration from places far beyond France, such as Madagascar, India, and China.

 

Currently, I am focusing on a local, unfiltered radio station where listeners can call in to on-air hosts at any time to discuss any subject live on the radio. I use this station, colloquially called "the voice of Réunion," to explore questions of identity and (non)sovereignty on the island. The project also considers the methodological implications of extending ethnographic observation from the voices of individual interlocutors to the “voice of Réunion,” and how collective listening practices on this grassroots radio station contribute to anthropological knowledge and public history.

 

I also work as a Project Manager and Researcher for two public scholarship initiatives– The Oceans Lab at UM and ReConnect/ReCollect: Reparative Connections to Philippine Collections at UM. Though both projects vary topically, they share the common goal of building digital resources to communicate relevant research to broader audiences.

 

As a first-gen college student, I am as passionate about teaching as I am about research. I have been a GSI for History of European Integration and Anthropology 101. Before starting my Ph.D. at Michigan, I served as an Adjunct Instructor in Anthropology at Utah Valley University teaching Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology, Applied Anthropology, and Myth, Magic, Religion and as an English Instructor in high schools in Réunion and French Guiana.