Curriculum Vitae
Loretta A. Cormier
Department of Anthropology
338 Ullman Building
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama 35294-3350
(205) 975-6526 or (205) 934-3508
fax (205)934-9896
e-mail: lcormier@uab.edu
revised 5/12/06
EDUCATION
2000 Ph.D. in Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans
1992 M.A. in Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (joint program)
1984 B.S. in Nursing, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Additional coursework: Georgia State University (1986), Kennesaw State College (1987-88), and Northwestern University (1991)
PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS HELD
2004-present, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
2000-2004, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
1998-2000, Adjunct Instructor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
1999-2000, Adjunct Instructor, University of Montevallo, AL
1984-1992, Full-Time Registered Nurse (various part-time positions also held between 1992-2000)
AREAS OF RESEARCH
Cultural anthropology, historical ecology, ethnoprimatology, Lowland South America (Amazonia), hunter-gatherers, Alabama Choctaw, gender, medical anthropology
PUBLICATIONS
Book
2003 Kinship with Monkeys: The Guajá Foragers of Eastern Amazonia. Historical Ecology Series. Columbia University Press.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles and Book Chapters in Edited Volumes
2006 "Between the Ship and the Bulldozer: Historical Ecology of Guaja Subsistence, Sociality, and Symbolism After 1500." In Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies from the Neotropical Lowlands. W. Balee and C. Erickson, eds. Historical Ecology Series. Columbia University Press.
2006 "A Preliminary Review of Neotropical Primates in the Subsistence and Symbolism of Indigenous Lowland South American Peoples." Ecological and Environmental Anthropology 2: 14-32.
2005 "Un Aroma No Ar: A Ecologia Histórica das Plantas Anti-Fantasma entre os Guajá Da Amazônia." Mana: Estudos de Anthropologia Social 11:129-154.
2003 "Animism, Cannibalism, and Pet-Keeping Among the The Guajá of Eastern Amazonia." Tipiti: Journal for the Society of the Anthropology of Lowland South America 1:71-88.
2003 "Decolonizing History: Ritual Transformation of the Past by the Guajá Indians of Eastern Amazonia." In History and Historicities: New Perspectives from Amazonia. N. L. Whitehead, ed. Pp. 123-139. University of Nebraska Press.
2002 "Monkey as Food, Monkey as Child: Guajá Symbolic Cannibalism." In Primates Face to Face: The Conservation Implications of Human-nonhuman Primate Interconnections. Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology, Volume 29. A. Fuentes and L. Wolfe, eds. Pp. 63-84. Cambridge University Press.
Other Scholarly Articles
2002 "Monkey Ethnobotany: Preserving Biocultural Diversity in Amazonia." In Ethnobiology and Biocultural Diversity: Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Ethnobiology. J. R. Stepp, F. Wyndham, and R. Zarger, eds. Pp. 313-325. University of Georgia Press.
2000 "Cultural Practices Benefitting Neotropical Primate Conservation among the Guajá of Eastern Amazonia." Neotropical Primates 8: 144-146
1999 "Ritualized Remembering and Genealogical Amnesia." Southern Anthropologist 26: 31-41.
Book Reviews
2004 Review of Native Religions and Cultures of Central and South America: The Anthropology of the Sacred, by Lawrence E. Sullivan, ed. Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses 33:488-490.
2003 Review of Trekking through History: The Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador, by Laura M. Rival. Journal of Ethnobiology 23: 164-166.
2001 Review of The Indians and Brazil, by Mercio P. Gomes. Ethnohistory 48:772-773
2001 Review of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunter-Gatherers, by Richard B. Lee and Richard Daly (eds.). Ethnohistory 48:728-730
Prepared Testimony
2004 “The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians.” Prepared Testimony for the Full Committee on Resources, the United States House of Representatives (28 pp). Oversight Hearing on: The Federal Recognition and Acknowledgement Process by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Presented by Chief Wilford “Longhair” Taylor. Prepared by Loretta A. Cormier and Jacqueline A. Matte. Committee on Resources Hearing Archives, 108th Congress.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2005-2006, Principal Investigator, UAB Faculty Development Grant, "The Historical Ecology of Malaria in Amazonia," $7,894
2005, Humanities Advisor/Grantwriter, Alabama Humanities Foundation, " Chata Imissa: A Symposium on the Alabama Choctaw," $8,764 (grant awarded to and administered through the MOWA Choctaw Cultural Center)
2004-2005, Co-Principal Investigator, UAB ADVANCE Senior Faculty Research Award (funded through the National Science Foundation), "The Academic Climate for Women Faculty in Science and Engineering at UAB," $20,000 ($10,000 per Co.P.I.)
2004-2005, Consultant/Grantwriter, Alabama State Council on the Arts Folklife Grant, "The Chata Imissa Folklife program," $3,750 (grant awarded to and administered through the MOWA Choctaw Cultural Center)
2003-2005, Co-Investigator, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), "Targeted Pre-Event Messages for Weapons of Mass Destruction Threats," 20% effort 2003/2004, 10% effort 2004/2005, total two-year grant award: $306,377
2003-2005, Anthropology Program Director, National Science Foundation Social Science Supplement, UAB-NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education Program, "Arrington Middle School Anthropology Enrichment," total two-year social science supplement: $99,000
1999, Roy A. Rappaport Graduate Student Paper Prize, Anthropology and Environment Section, American Anthropological Association (national competition)
1999, Southern Anthropological Society Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award
1996-1997, Fulbright Fellowship to Brazil: Institute for International Education (IIE), "The Ethnoprimatology of the Guajá of Maranhão, Brazil" (approx. $20,000 in U.S.D.)
1996, American Society of Primatologists’ Conservation Small Grant, "The Ethnoprimatology of the Guajá of Maranhão, Brazil," $1,500.00
1995, Tulane University Graduate Student Grant-in-aid of Research, funding for pre-dissertation behavioral observations of primate research sites in U.S., $350.00
1994, Tinker Foundation Summer Field Research Grant, funding for pre-dissertation feasibility study in Brazil, $1,500.00
1992-1995, Tulane University Graduate School Fellowship and Tuition Scholarship
1992, Outstanding Graduate Student in Anthropology Award: University of Alabama at Birmingham
1992, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
1988, Blue Key Honor Society
PRESENTATIONS AT PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS AND INVITED UNIVERSITY LECTURES
National and International Professional Meetings
February 2006, "Disease Ecology of Human and Non-Human Primate Interactions in the History of Malaria in Lowland South America." 34th Annual Midwest Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory. Nashville, TN
December 2005, "Time Out of Mind: Perspectival Multi-Temporality in Amazonia," American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings. Washington, D.C.
June 2005, "The Historical Ecology of New World Malaria," Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America Sesquiannual Conference, Estes Park, CO.
April 2005, "Neotropical Monkeys and Amazonian Culture," invited Wiley-Liss Symposium: The Human-Nonhuman Primate Interface. American Physical Anthropology Association Annual Meetings, Milwaukee, WI.
December 2004, "The Cultural Construction of Personhood Among the Guajá of Eastern Amazonia," invited session of the Society of Latin American Anthropologists: Self and Personhood in Amazonia. Paper provided on the Anthrocommons for the Virtual Community for the Meetings of the American Association of Anthropology
December 2004, "Image and Meaning in Photographic Representations of Amazonian Ritual," invited Poster Session of the Society of Visual Anthropology: Shamanism, Ritual, and Sorcery: Visions of Reality in Amazonia. American Anthropological Association Meetings, Atlanta, GA (co-presenter)
November 2004, "Preparedness for Terrorism Involving Radioactive Materials: Information Needs, Perceptions, and Responses of Public Health Professionals, First Responders, and Hospital Emergency Personnel." American Public Health Association Annual Meetings, Washington, D.C. (with S. M. Becker, H. R. Foushee, and L. Goodson)
January 2004, "Efficacy and Symbolic Discourse of Aiyã Ghost Repellent Plants and the Guajá of Eastern Amazonia," Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America Sesquiannual Conference, Miami, FL
October 2002, "A Historical-Ecological Evaluation of Guajá Symbolism and Ritual (Eastern Brazilian Amazon)," Symposium on Neotropical Historical Ecology, New Orleans, L.A. (invited conference participant)
June 2002, "Guajá Women: Dynamic Egalitarianism in a Foraging People," Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America Sesquiannual Conference, St. Johns College, Annapolis, Maryland.
January 2001, "Animism as Cannibalism: Relations of Consumption among the Guajá of Eastern Amazonia," Indigenous Amazonia at the Millennium: Politics and Religion Conference, New Orleans, LA (invited conference participant)
November 2000, "Ethnoprimatology of the Guajá Indians: Cultural Survival and Primate Conservation in Amazonia," American Anthropological Association Meetings, San Francisco, CA (poster presentation)
October 2000, "Monkey Ethnobotany: Preserving Biocultural Diversity in Amazonia," International Society of Ethnobiology Meetings, Athens, GA
November 1999, "Gendered Conceptions of Time Among an 'Egalitarian' Amazonian People," American Anthropological Association Meetings, Chicago, IL
August 1999, "Cultural Implications for the Conservation of Neotropical Primates on the Caru Reserve, Maranhão, Brazil. American Society of Primatologists Meetings, New Orleans, LA. (poster presentation)
March 1999, "The Forest Siblings: Nature, Culture, and Kinship Among the Guajá Indians," American Ethnological Society Meetings, Portland, OR
Regional Meetings, Workshops, and Invited University Lectures
March 2006, "Ethnobotany and Science Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham," 83rd Alabama Academy of Science Annual Meetings, Troy, AL.
April 2005, "Chata Imissa: Public Education in Social Science through the MOWA Choctaw Cultural Center. Alabama Academy of Science Annual Meetings, Birmingham, AL. (with J. A. Matte)
February 2005 "Medicinal Plants of the Guajá of Eastern Amazonia," Center for Nursing Research, University of Alabama at Birmingham
June 2004, "Pre-Event Message Development: Findings from Year One," invited presentation, Center for the Study of Bioterrorism and the Health Communication Research Laboratory: Standing on the State of Terror, A Workshop Dealing with Media during a Chemical, Radiological, or Bioterrorism Crisis, St. Louis, MO (with S. M. Becker and H. R. Foushee).
March 2004, "A Pilot Project in Social and Behavioral Science Honors Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham," Alabama Academy of Science Meetings, Montevallo, AL (with C. Kyle)
April 2002, "Ethnoprimatology: Cultural Survival and Primate Conservation among the Guajá of Eastern Amazonia," Graduate Student Colloquium, University of Georgia
February 1999, "Ritualized Remembering and Genealogical Amnesia," Southern Anthropological Society Meetings, Decatur, GA
March 2000, "Ethnoprimatology and the Guajá of Brazil," Department of Anthropology, State University of New York-Stony Brook.
December 1998, "Guajá Ethnobotany: Agricultural Regression or Monkey Business?" Ethnobotany Luncheon, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.
March 1998, "The Role of the Monkey in the Culture of the Guajá Indians," Graduate Student Colloquium, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
March 1998, "International Week Series: The Guajá Indians of Brazil," Talledega College, Talledega, AL.
TEACHING
Introductory Anthropology
Advanced Cultural Anthropology
Human Ecology
Anthropology of Gender
South American Indians
Language and Culture
Science Fiction and Anthropology
Anthropology and the Health Care Professional
SERVICE
University, School, and Department
University
2004-2005 UAB-ADVANCE Advisory Board
2004 UAB Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Focus Group Participant (August)
2002-2005 UAB Faculty Policies and Procedures Committee (elected)
2002-2005 Subcommittee C of the FPPC
2004 Subcommittee for Nominating FPPC Chair
2003-2004 UAB Faculty Advisor to the Alabama Environmental Council Club
2003-2005 UAB-NSF GK-12 Anthropology Enrichment Program Director
2002-2005 UAB Sterne Library Grant Committee (chair, 2004-2005)
2002-2004 UAB Morris K. Udall Scholarship Committee
2001-2005 UAB School of Nursing Faculty Affiliate
2001, 2002 UAB Fulbright Campus Committee
2001 UAB Ingall's Excellence in Teaching Award Selection Committee
2001 UAB Standardized Testing for UAB Academic Credit Committee
School
2005-2006 SBS Affirmative Action Officer
2005, 2006 SBS Committee for Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
2004-2006 SBS Committee on Faculty Affairs (elected)
2004-2006 SBS Committee on Teaching and Academic Affairs
2003, 2004 SBS Sabbatical Committee (chair, 2004)
2002-present SBS Interim Director of the Environmental Studies Minor
Department
2005-2006 Anthropology Faculty Search Committee (Archaeology)
2004-2005 Anthropology Faculty Search Committee (Archaeology)
2004-2006 Anthropology Graduate Student Advisor (M.A. program)
2004 Anthropology Faculty Panelist for Freshman Orientation Session (June)
2000-2004 Anthropology Club Advisor
2002-2003 Anthropology Faculty Search Committee (Cultural Anthropology)
2001-2004 Anthropology Red Mountain Research Prize Selection Committee
2000-2003 Anthropology Undergraduate Student Advisor
2000-2003 Anthropology Departmental Honors Program Director
Service to Academic Organizations
2005-2008 Secretary-Treasurer of SALSA, the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America (International Professional Anthropological Organization)
2005-2006 Chair, Science Education Section, Alabama Academy of Science
2004-2005 Vice Chair, Science Education Section, Alabama Academy of Science
2002-present Advisory Board: Tipití: The Journal for the Society of the Anthropology of Lowland South America
2001-2002 Steering Committee: Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America
Referee Work: Tipití: The Journal for the Society of the Anthropology of Lowland South America, University of Nebraska Press
Community Service
Service Activities
2000-present Tribal Anthropologist of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians
2000-present Museum Board Member of the MOWA-Choctaw Cultural Center
2001-present MOWA Choctaw Federal Recognition Committee
Community Presentations
April 2006 "Ethnobotany of the Alabama Choctaw," Alabama Humanities Foundation Symposium on the Alabama Choctaw. MOWA Choctaw Reservation, Mt. Vernon, AL.
June 2004 "Native American Plants of Alabama," Brown-Bag Lunch Series, Emmett O'Neil Public Library
May 2004 "Native American Plants of Alabama," Daughters of the American Revolution Meeting, Birmingham, AL
September 2003 Docent Museum Tours for the MOWA-Choctaw Cultural Festival, McIntosh, Alabama
December 2002 "The Anthropology of Religion: Cultural Relativism and Moral Relativism," Religion and the Academy Series. Birmingham Episcopal Campus Ministries, Alabama
September 2002 Docent Museum Tour for the MOWA-Choctaw Cultural Festival, McIntosh, Alabama
April 2002 Televised Interview on Cross-Cultural Differences in Nostalgia, Channel 33/40, Birmingham, AL
November 2001 "Space-Time and Dreaming in the Amazon," Progress Study Club, Mountain Brook, Alabama
November 1998 “The Guajá Indians of the Amazonian Rain Forest,” Alabama Association for Community and Family Education, Jasper, Alabama
November 1997 “The Guajá Indians of the Amazonian Rain Forest,” Alabama Association for Community and Family Education, Curry, Alabama
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Guajá (unwritten Tupi-Guarani Amazonian language): conversational
Portuguese: conversational
Spanish: read Chinese: currently studying
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Anthropological Association
American Society of Primatologists
Higher Education Partnership of Alabama
International Society of Ethnobiology
Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America
Society of Ethnobiology
