Michael Adler

My collaborative archaeological research with ancestral and modern Pueblo communities serves many "publics". This includes the individuals within each Pueblo community, some of whom are stewards of limited-access information about ancestral settlement, migrations, and identity. It also includes a more general populace interested in the long history(ies) of community integration, disintegration, and negotiation of group identities in this arid region of the American Southwest. The goal of this collaborative research is to understand what each of these publics mean when the topic of "cultural affiliation" is bandied about. At heart we are negotiating group identities that form and reform across time and space. As such we must include as many hearts as possible in this collaborative endeavor.

Robert Kemper

My current work involves two major "public" components: (1) consulting with Presbyterian congregations in north-central and east Texas regarding their changing relationships with their surrounding communities. During the past six years, my colleague Dr. Julie Adkins and I have consulted with some 50 congregations within the bounds of Grace Presbytery. Our combination of social science and ministerial skills have proven valuable in interpreting demographic, community, and regional data. Our work with congregations has led to invitations to several national conferences, where we have shared our approach.

(2) training school teachers enrolled in the SMU Master of Bilingual Education program in school- and community-based field work skills. During the past 25 years, as part of a distinctive, ethnographically-oriented program (directed by William Pulte), we have provided training for some 300 teachers -- in more than a dozen school districts in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

 

 

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