I have not done many interviews on the subject. Here is an NPR article in which I am featured alongside one of my students about the shooting in…
Every year at this time, I reflect on the shooting that occurred in my classroom on April 30, 2019, that took the lives of two students, injured four…
Texas Ebony trees (Ebenopsis ebano) is a species of legume native to South Texas. These trees produce large bean pods (see below) that ripen and fall to the…
I recently participated in a webinar with the American Association of Biological Anthropologists and the Sausage of Science Podcast. We discussed mental wellbeing in academia and Dr. Rebecca…
On October 27, I presented some of my preliminary research at the Royal Anthropological Institute’s 2021 Anthropology and Conservation conference at the “Living with Diversity in a More-t…
Presentation Slides: Of People and Peccaries PresentationDownload INTRODUCTION On my first day of fieldwork, I climbed a steep hill where my collaborator, Roger, reported a group of javelina…
In early August of this year, my partner and I took a much needed vacation to South Padre Island. While visiting, we decided to go snorkeling in Laguna…
I am giving a talk in October for the Royal Anthropological Institute: https://www.therai.org.uk/conferences/anthropology-and-conservation/panels#10866 Here is the abstract for my talk based on or…
(NOTE: SOME OF THE FORMATTING IS OFF IN TRANSLATION FROM WORD TO THE BLOG. I HAVE MADE THE PDF AVAILABLE BELOW) anth-103-syllabusDownload ANTH 103: Introduction to Anthropology Virginia…
I have passed my qualifying exams and so am making my essays available on my blog. The other essays can be found: Attending to Animals in Anthropology and…
I have passed my qualifying exams and so am making my essays available on my blog. The other essays can be found: Attending to Animals in Anthropology and…
I have passed my qualifying exams and so am making my essays available on my blog. The other essays can be found: Power and Politics Within and Beyond…
You can read the article here: “Mental health in academia: Hacks for cultivating and sustaining wellbeing” Johnson and Lester 2021
I am conducting research across Texas on Human and javelina relations. I am interested in how humans and other animals negotiate space at sites of encounter. During this…
Altrichter, Mariana. “The sustainability of subsistence hunting of peccaries in the Argentine Chaco.” Biological Conservation 126, no. 3 (2005): 351-362. Bement, Leland C.&nb…
Adamson, Joni. “Indigenous Literatures, Multinaturalism, and Avatar: The emergence of Indigenous cosmopolitics.” American Literary History 24, no. 1 (2012): 143-162. Agamben,…
Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-human World. Vintage, 2012. Archambault, Julie Soleil. “Taking love seriously in human-plant relations in…
Since the start of the pandemic, my partner and I have worked to transform our San Antonio, TX backyard to a wildlife-friendly space. It began with a small…
Today marks two years since a classroom shooting happened while teaching my final class at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Six students were shot, two of which…
One of my more popular posts of late has been The Fall and Rise of Lindbergh: A Javelina Story. In that post, I tell the story of a…
I have been working with javelinas in Texas for nearly a year. My first encounter with them occurred at Big Bend National Park and I have since visited…
Note: This piece is merely a stream of conscious as I watch and think about the impeachment. Last week, we Americans watched a violent insurrection unfold at the…
My first glimpse of a peccary/javelina at one of my fieldsites. I am currently working on a manuscript exploring the ways that both literal and metaphorical shadows produce…
