Katy Groves
I suppose my story is much the same as other anthropologists. For as long as I can remember I have always been an observer. At any given moment, in all situations I am cataloguing the experience, taking mental notes, and trying to define meaningful patterns. As an undergraduate (at Transylvania University in Lexington, KY) I was an active student, but as the story goes for many, I just couldn’t quite find my niche in any discipline. In my undergraduate career my direction of study spanned from pre-veterinary, political science, and psychology. The aforementioned areas were broken up with jaunts to the anthropology “department” (which consisted of a single cultural anthropologist). Every semester I looked forward to the one "fun" class in anthropology that broke up the frustration and monotony I often experienced in other disciplines. I finally realized anthropology was the way to go! Having found my niche in the academic world, I knew that anthropology would eventually be my area of study in graduate school. However, I needed a couple of years to be in the “real” world before returning to graduate school. Having spent a large portion of my undergraduate career being a participant observer in the extremely time and energy consuming social setting of college campus life, I felt the need to grow up a bit more before delving into graduate studies. Most importantly, I needed time to hone in on my interest in anthropology. I had only received a minor in anthropology, and my undergraduate institution only boasted one anthropologist. Thus, I signed up for an archeology field school (through University of Kentucky) to experience another side of anthropology. Our class was excavating archaic shell ring sites on Sapelo Island, GA. Nevertheless, my interests turned cultural right away. The 70 current residents who call themselves Salt Water Geechee piqued my curiosity. While not digging, screening, and cataloguing artifacts from the excavation, I was desperately seeking conversation and interaction with the Geechee people. Much to the shock of my naďve, idealistic mentality, the locals were none to interested in talking to yet another young, white, college student. This rejection was very important to learning the diplomatic approach one must use in seeking access to cultural information. Groups don’t come running with tomes of data to the anthropologist! Finally, towards the end of my time on Sapelo, I found a moment to chat with none other than Cornelia Walker Bailey herself! She is the author of "God, Dr. Buzzard and the Bolito Man" (a memoir of life on the island as a Geechee), and a dynamic figure in the Geechee community. I silently listened for 3 hours, and before ending the “conversation,” she proclaimed, in her smooth yet often cryptic Geechee dialect, that “Child, you will be an anthropologist.” The next 2 years I spent working towards Mrs. Bailey’s prophecy. I worked in 2 psychiatric treatment facilities, and felt completely mentally and academically stifled. With my veterinary background I was able to secure a much more stimulating job scooping monkey poop at University of Kentucky. In between scooping monkey poop, I focused on improving the psychological well being of the monkeys. What began as simply developing an objective method for determining which toys the monkeys liked to play with the most, turned into a full blown research project to assess the monkeys’ psychological well being, and identify trends of abnormal behavior. To make a long story short - I learned some important lessons including grant proposal writing, experimental design, IRB proposals, and the importance of pilot studies before purchasing $$,$$$ equipment. …which brings me happily back to academia! My focus is medical anthropology. I am interested in examining populations at verge of enculturation and culture loss, with the introduction of multiple treatment options or healing systems, and the effects on health.
Contact Ms. Groves at: kmgroves@bama.ua.edu
Office: 23A
Phone: 348-5947