"A Senior's Reflection" by Nina Pantaleone

In the humanities field, it’s pretty common for people to be multidisciplinary. I am no exception to this.

This past weekend, April 17-18, I had the opportunity to present my own research poster that I’ve been constructing all semester to other colleagues and scholars of anthropology.

For those who aren’t familiar, ethnography refers to a research method of anthropology that involves immersion and combines traditional field work with writing. Perfect for a writer like me.

I had the privilege to conduct interviews with my colleague and friend, Jack Croce, with the Italian professors here at Rowan: Dr. Alessandra Mirra and Professor David Master. 

I edited down the two-hour recording of myself and Dr. Mirra’s conversation and filtered out some of our side tangents. The final product yielded an entirely lavender (sorry, printing center people) poster of my research!

While I had a lot of text on my poster, I had no problems speaking from the heart when I was approached with questions about my work. When I expressed my feelings of anxiety to my classmate and friend, Liv, she reassured me by reminding me that “I’m the expert on this!” I remembered this advice while I was being peppered with questions, seemingly on rapidfire mode. 

It was a proud moment for me to stand proudly beside my colorful poster at the Northeastern Anthropological Association conference. I was alongside some of the smartest and most amazing classmates I’ve ever had, and I couldn’t be more proud of them too.

After bonding with my fellow anthropologists over dinner, it affirmed for me that writing initially gave me purpose, but anthropology gave my purpose a focus.