During June and July of 2009, ten undergraduates, one graduate student, two professors, and an artist carried out anthropological research on a relatively remote island in Fiji’s Lau Island Group. The National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) grant sponsored this program and fellowships through an award to Sharyn Jones and Lori Cormier. Dr. Jones, the project P.I., instructed the fellows on excavation techniques and archaeological methods at prehistoric residential sites on the small island of Nayau.
Each day, the fellows rose early in the morning and assisted the Fijian women with breakfast preparation. After eating and gathering a few supplies, they hiked from Salia village, where they stayed, to one of two dig sites: Na Masimasi and Wai Turuturu. The team spent their days mapping, excavating, sifting, collecting data and recording their activities. When daily archaeological tasks were complete, the group returned to the village to help with laundry, prepare dinner, eat, perhaps tell stories and sing songs, and then get some sleep. Most of their month on Nayau was spent in this way: archaeology was conducted in the day while the group conducted participant observation and ethnography 24/7, making the whole trip a seamless combination of two subfields of anthropology and an enriching ethnoarchaeological experience.
During the summer of 2010, a new group of graduate and undergraduate students visited Nayau to conduct ethnographic research based on both group project assignments and individually chosen research questions. The 2010 fellows were instructed in ethnographic methods by Dr. Cormier.
When the professors and students returned from Fiji the groups continued to work during a final two-week period of post-trip data analysis and project completion. The students also had the opportunity to share their findings with the public by presenting at the McWane Science Center. Take a moment to explore the site for more information about Fiji, the fieldschool, the NSF REU program and to listen to podcasts by the students regarding their research.
