On April 2nd, the 5th Annual ECU Anthropology Alumni Lecture Series began and our first speaker for the lecture series was Bach Pham. Bach is a 2012 graduate receiving a Master’s degree in Anthropology with a concentration in Cultural Anthropology. The title of his talk was:
“So You’re a What?: Preparing to Work as a Cultural Anthropologist in the Real World”
As a reminder, the purpose of the ECU Anthropology Alumni Lecture series is designed for former ECU anthropology students to share their expertise and experiences to current anthropology students who are preparing to graduate or who are anticipating to graduate in the next few years. We hope this lecture series creates more of a constructive, practical dialogue between recent ECU anthroplogy graduates with current ECU anthropology majors.
Bach’s lecture was very informative, insightful, practical and entertaining. Currently working at the University of South Carolina in the Center for Child & Family Studies, Bach mentioned at the very beginning of his lecture that he considers himself a four-field anthropologist. Each subfield of anthropology (cultural, biological, archaeology, and linguistics) is essential to understanding and investigating cultures. Bach also talked about his personal background, his earlier fieldwork studies, his current job activities and the challenges of being a millennial anthropologist.
At the end of his lecture, Bach emphasized several key themes to the students in the classroom. They were: 1. Get off the internet, 2. Volunteer 3. Network with more colleagues 4. Attend anthropology conferences and student meetings 5. Get Back on the internet and do more researching on potential jobs 6. Take Chances.
By the end of his lecture, Bach had even mentioned that if he didn’t take chances earlier in his graduate career, many of the opportunities that has come his way, may not have. For me, this was a major key theme of his talk — Take Chances and Start Now!
Check out a couple of photos from this event including our Group Selfie with Bach!