Spotlight on Ohlone
Jo Rainie Rodgers plans trip to Sydney
By Barry Kearns, Staff writer.
Thursday, October 11, 2007 — Monitor.
Jo Rainie Rodgers moved to a part-time position this fall.
— Staff photo.
When asked about some of the more exciting things she has observed, Jo Rainie Rodgers men tioned the Stockman’s department store in Helsinki, Finland. About 20 years ago, when Rodgers went to the store, she noticed that there were closed spiral staircases found in the far corners of the store where one couldn’t see if a person was ascending or descending the stairs. After watching people emerge or enter various staircases, she saw that with out any signs or markings people just knew which of these stair cases was for going up or going down. This observa tion is the basis of cultural an thropology.
Rodgers knew from the age of 8 that she wanted to pursue a career in the field of anthropology so as to better “know the sto ry of people and humankind.” This interest was fueled, as her father purchased books for her in the fields of archeology and human evolution during book drives. She went on to University of California, Berkeley for her degree in anthropology and then to California State University, Hayward to get her Master’s degree in the same subject. She also holds an M.B.A. in International Business. Learning is a lifelong passion for Rodgers, who is currently enrolled in the Alliant doctoral program. Rodgers is also a fellow with the Leaky Foundation, a group founded to support human evolution research and paleoanthropology.
Rodgers, along with her husband George, also plans trips with stu dents every spring around the world; so far they’ve gone to China, Egypt, Peru, Costa Rica, Scandinavia, Russia, Italy and all over Europe. Rodgers met her husband on an ar chaeological dig in the Mission San Jose to find the original foundation of the mission, which was destroyed in the earthquake of 1868.
Together they went on to run an archeology firm for eight years where she focused her efforts in the physical an thropology as pect of cultural resource man agement. The firm provided consulting for the govern ment and for developers in the form of possible cul tural resources and the impact of building in Northern Cali fornia.
Rodgers has been teach ing at Ohlone College since 1984, when she started with some weekend and night courses. In her cultural anthropology class, she is discussing the cultural landscape with topics ranging from tattoos and piercings to social taboos like cousin marriage. Her favorite part about teaching comes from the stimulating conversations that arise in the classroom where values and cultural viewpoints are expressed. Rodgers looks for what she calls the epiphanic “a-ha!” moments when she comes to understand why other cultures act in a certain way. Rodg ers recalls a particular lesson she teaches to simulate culture shock - the class would be split into two groups and learned about a culture for about three hours. After becom ing comfortable with that culture, some students would go into the other classroom to observe the other culture and then report back to their own group.
Rodgers explained, “The thing about people is, you tend to look at your own culture and think it’s human nature.”
Cultural anthropology is the study of cultures and, in the class room, Rodgers strives to instill a “cultural sensitivity” in her students. In teaching, she hopes to take away a cold clinical approach to the dis cipline and to allow students to use what she has taught and view how it impacts their lives or beliefs when one views the distinction of human nature vs. culture. In many cases, it is easy to fall into an “us vs. them” perspective when it comes to other cultures, but with the perspective that cultural anthropology provides, one can better understand a different culture, even if they don’t agree with it, Rodgers said.
Rodgers currently teaches an online cultural anthropology course and a course on the survey of North American Indians. Next fall, both she and her husband will be going to Sydney, Australia where she will continue to teach her online cultural anthropology course.
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