Anthropology in Action

Getting to do field research as an undergraduate is a dream come true for Elena Dickson. She is spending the summer in North Carolina thanks to the Julie Childress Stroh Endowment for Student Support in Anthropology. The endowment has been supporting undergraduates in their fieldwork for the past 20 years since it was established by alumna Julie Stroh (A.B. ’73). 

“My grant from the Stroh Endowment has made it possible for me to spend the summer doing research in Appalachia,” said Elena, who is interning for the Southern Songs and Stories podcast at North Carolina public radio station WNCW.

“My thesis focuses on traditional storytelling techniques within the region as well as the dichotomy between what Appalachians themselves say about the mountains and the narrative that greater America has created about Appalachia. My greater goal is to talk about literacy and how we can incorporate storytelling traditions of an area into education to make education and literacy more accessible and inclusive.

“Before I received the grant I never thought this would be something that I could do as an undergrad.” Elena added. “But this says, ‘I am a scholar and I am an anthropologist, and I am doing the things that I'm learning in school and making a name for myself.’ It's very empowering.”

Stroh created the endowment because, “I wanted to make it possible for today's undergraduate students to have the sorts of eye-opening opportunities to do something more with their anthropology studies outside the classroom that undergrads didn’t have the support for when I was in college—to actually do fieldwork.”