Summer Archaeology Book Club 2020: Gods of the Upper Air Pairings

July's Book Club pick, Gods of the Upper Air by Charles King, focuses on the lives of key figures in the origin story of our modern field of anthropology. The book begins with Franz Boas and continues with the stories of some of his most famous students including Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead and Zora Neale Hurston. We choose the book based on multiple recommendations from friends and colleagues. 


Our choice to read this book now has come at an opportune moment as it helps us understand the history of anthropology in creating racial categories and reinforcing racial stereotypes. While we now know race is not a biologically founded concept, the field of anthropology, in many ways, started as a means to help offer scientific support to these concepts. Franz Boas and his students were key to disproving a lot of these theories. However, King's book explores how complicated this history is - for every barrier they may have broken, we can still find plenty of shortcomings in each of their lives and work. This book reminds us that we can always do better as anthropologists, especially today.

Here's some recommended pairings in honor of some of our anthropological forefathers (foremothers?).



Drinks
Disney's Epcot Sangria
Embed from Getty Images
We choose Sangria for Margret Mead strictly because of these images of her drinking around the world at Epcot. In 1970 Mead was featured in a Disney exhibit on famous scientists. This included her being placed on swag sold at Disney. Man, what would I do to have some Margaret Mead swag.

You can find a replica recipe here: http://www.magicalrecipes.net/spoodles-sangria-recipe/


Vaifala
Another Margaret Mead option is based on her work in Samoa. A Vaifala is a nonalcoholic drink that is easy to make. Crushed pineapple, condensed milk, water. Combine those three drinks for a taste of Samoa!
 

Pislner
A German classic in honor of Papa Franz! These blonde beers are perfect for a July night - and are commonly brewed by many local breweries.


Food
Sweet Potato Chips
Zora Neal Hurston's work in Florida resulted in a book called "Zora Neal Hurston on Florida Food" from all the indirect data she collected on meals, gardens, and remedies. There is an entire chapter on Sweet Potatoes, so why not choose an easy one, a bag of sweet potato chips!
  

Zuni Bean Soup
 A little more intensive, but this bean soup is in honor of the Zuni Tribe and the work that Ruth Benedict did early in her career. The soup calls for Four Corners Gold Bean or Zuni Gold Beans, but you can easily replace these! 



Oatmeal Cookies
Marie Franz was noted to serve up oatmeal cookies to "poorly fed postgraduates." We choose a recipe sans raisin, because Emily Jane doesn't like them, but feel free to include your favorite addition, be it raisins, nuts or even chocolate chips!


Words and images by Emma Dietrich and Emily Jane Murray.