Professor of the Week Angela Castañeda
teaches one of her anthropology classes.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DEPAUW UNIVERSITY
Angela Castañeda, Associate Professor and Edward Myers Dolan Professor of Anthropology, is the final Professor of the Week for this semester. The DePauw sat down with her, and this is what she had to say:
The DePauw (TDP): What is your schooling background?
Angela Castañeda (AC): I actually did my undergraduate work here at DePauw, then I went to Indiana University (Bloomington) to do my graduate training—completing both my masters and doctorate in cultural anthropology. I always imagined myself teaching at a liberal arts institution like DePauw, so when the opportunity to come back presented itself, I was eager to return because it meant that I could give back to students in a unique way by coming back to the place where I was inspired and mentored as a young scholar.
(TDP): What are your teaching styles and why do you think students take so well to them?
(AC): My classes are discussion-based and incorporate mini-lectures with a variety of supplemental sources such as music, films, radio and internet examples. My goal is to make each class a community so that students feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and questions. I like to learn everyone's name and encourage the entire class to do the same so that we can build a stronger community. My teaching style is fluid and flexible; I welcome suggestions for changes and new ideas from my students throughout the semester, and I encourage them to take ownership in the material so that together we can craft a meaningful course.
(TDP): What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of the classroom?
(AC): Outside of the classroom, I am a mother to two amazing kids who keep me very busy. I actually just started taking piano lessons this semester. I was inspired by my son who has been taking lessons for a year now. Music is an important part of life in our house, which inevitably leads to dancing too! I'm also active in my community as a doula or labor assistant, and I offer childbirth education classes in Spanish at the Monroe County Library. So while I'm not in the classroom, my interests in mothering and performance (which frame my research) are still very important to me.
(TDP): What is the favorite thing to teach and why?
(AC): I have always enjoyed teaching our introductory class, Human Cultures, because it offers me the opportunity to introduce my discipline to students—since most students haven't taken an anthropology class before. In this class, we are able to engage in cross-cultural comparisons, to investigate "other" cultures and most importantly to reflect on how our own culture influences how we see and interact with the world around us. Recently, I've started teaching more and more about childbirth, reproduction and mothering. This reflects my current research interests, and I love teaching about these topics because they are great discussion starters, and students are eager to learn about these topics--even placentophagy (take Anthropology of Food to learn more about that!).
(TDP): What do you hope students will get out of your class?
(AC): I will borrow from Ruth Benedict who said, "The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences." I hope that students in my classes learn to explore and appreciate the great diversity existing in human culture, while at the same time reflecting on cultural universals—the similarities that make all humans fundamentally alike. I hope my classes provide a particular lens through which students can learn about others while simultaneously learning about themselves.
(TDP): Why do you enjoy teaching?
(AC): I enjoy teaching because I learn so much from my students. They are continuously challenging me to rethink the way I teach and how I approach my research. And I really enjoy getting to know my students and watching them grow throughout their four years at DePauw and beyond. In fact, just this weekend I was at a national conference in Washington D.C. where I was thrilled to see three of my former students presenting their work and doing amazing things—not only in the discipline of anthropology but in the communities they work with as well.
(TDP): If you weren't a professor of Anthropology, what would you be doing?
(AC): I would be much more involved as a Birth Activist, which would mean attending more births—something that is not easy to balance with teaching and a young family. I feel strongly about what happens to a woman’s body during birth – and to her baby’s – and I want women and men to know about their options.