sNAPAshots: Kamela Heyward-Rotimi

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Transcript

0:00
[On screen image] sNAPAshots Logo

Interviewer 00:08
Welcome to sNAPAshots: Conversations with Professional, Practicing, and Applied Anthropology

Speaker 1 00:13
[On Screen Text] Kamela Heyward-Rotimi, Executive Director, Knowledge Exchange Research Group.

Interviewer 00:14
[On Screen Text] Looking back, what key moments in your childhood hinted at your future path in anthropology?

Kamela Heyward-Rotimi 00:24
There was this key moment when I was a kid. There was the King Tut exhibit at LACMA, the Los Angeles Community Museum of Art, which is where I’m from. I was about nine or 10 years old, and when I went into the exhibit with my mom, and I was walking around, I was looking at the statues, and I remember asking, and this is this is true, this is not made up. I said, “Do the Egyptians know their art and sculptures are here, and why are they here in Los Angeles? And so, from my nine or 10-year-old mind, I was like, “Were they taken without permission? And as I grew, and those those questions grew with me. I realized that I was asking questions behind what items and artifacts are considered national and international treasures. How are they stored, and how do those artifacts get defined as knowledge? And and how are they tied to historical and present international systems, structures, and policies? So that quest for what knowledge is being…how knowledge is being constructed. What items are claimed as knowledge worthy? What communities, nations, are recognized as having the right to say where their items should go, that still that still influences my work.

Interviewer 02:28
[On Screen Text] Do you recall a moment that changed the way you practiced Anthropology?

Kamela Heyward-Rotimi 02:30
Yes, a huge moment was my realizing that I needed to learn more about practicing skills and how to incorporate them in the work that I wanted to do, because I was not trained in a practicing program. My graduate program definitely had strong engaged anthropology, had a strong engaged anthropology focus, which was wonderful, but there was no practicing focus. When I realized I wanted to do both practicing and do my scholarship and research, I recognized that I needed to expand my examples of how to do anthropology, and that is when I I really leaned into what is practicing anthropology? Are there many different ways to do it? Because I knew that the way I was doing it may not be the way that another practicing anthropologist does it, but I knew that there were so many vast examples that I was very encouraged to learn more about what that practicing anthropology would look like for me.

Interviewer 03:18
[On Screen Text] What types of industry challenges do you like to solve with this anthropological lens?

Kamela Heyward-Rotimi 03:46
My industries also involve my scholarship and my research, so I focus on knowledge production and digital anthropology. And I would say that my industry work areas are…involve government policy work, work with West African higher education, open access publishing, and addressing digital divide and digital inequities through work on open access policy and digital equity policy. I also, through my research group, the Knowledge Exchange Research Group, we’re working on building equitable digital platforms. And I also remember I have a huge respect for intersectionalities. I’ve also done work with environmental justice policy. And so, I think all of those, all of those areas, I bring my anthropological perspective, and especially the one of the hallmarks, like I said before, is collaborative work, making sure that I don’t just study with the groups or work with the groups, whether it be my my research, scholarship, or my policy work. I also go in as….making sure that they are not just stakeholders, but are contributing to the work that I’m doing and share the work with them.

Interviewer 05:38
[On Screen Text] How has the anthropological mindset enhanced your contribution to your workplace?

Kamela Heyward-Rotimi 05:41
So I will go back to grad school for this question. My department was truly four-field, so by default, I was exposed to different research approaches and different subfields. For example, I worked as a research assistant for a medical anthropologist studying Black maternal health. I, during that time, I also learned a healthy respect for quantitative data as a complement to qualitative analysis, and I was in an archeology course where I learned how to find symbolism and artifacts. The class that really steered me towards practicing was a class that, even though the the class was taught by an anthropologist who was in the department of of architecture, interestingly enough, and this class, we were assigned to work with nonprofits in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to address environmental injustices, and this really found it gave me the foundation to learn how to collaborate with groups. Excuse me, that I work with. So I learned how to analyze and assess and conduct diverse data assessments. I learned about holding on to the hallmark of collaboration and to respect interdisciplinary approaches, and these these approaches are still fundamental to my current research and policy work.

Interviewer 07:32
[On Screen Text] What advice would you like to pass onto future anthropologists seeking roles in professional fields?

Kamela Heyward-Rotimi 07:34
One of the things that I would advise for aspiring practicing anthropologists is to get an early start reaching out to other practicing anthropologists. Use those research skills to connect with practicing anthropologists and to read up on the different ways that anthropology is practiced. A very good source is, you know, NAPA’s website. Find different ways to…sNAPAshots. What I’m thrilled to do right now, and then, you know, just making sure that there is an understanding that there are different ways to apply your expertise in industry, nonprofits, educational institutions, and beyond. That there’s no one way to do it.

Credits 9:07
PRODUCED BY Niel Tashima Cathleen Crain Joshua Liggett CREATED AND DIRECTED BY Reshama Damle EDITED BY Reshama Damle FOOTAGE VIA PEXELS MUSIC VIA PIXABAY: “Fat Chillin” by Lazy Chill Zone, “mood” by alexproductions, “LoFi Girl” by Snoozy Beats

Interviewer 9:07
[On screen text] Like what you see? Let us know. Find us at practicinganthropology.org, LinkedIn, Meta X, Blue Sky, and YouTube.

Interviewer 9:32
[On Screen Text] Many Thanks to NAPA’s Governing Council for supporting sNAPAshots. NAPA is a section of the Anthropological Association.

Volunteer Plug 9:21
[On Screen Images] Starbursts with the words: Social Media, Organization, Promotions, and Events. [On Screen Text] Want to volunteer with NAPA? We’d love to hear from YOU! Contact: ntashima@ltgassociates.com

AAP Plug 9:44
[On Screen Text] Stay connected with 40 Years of The Annals of Anthropological Practice. [On Screen Image] AAP Cover Page. [On Screen Text] https://practicinganthropology.org/communicate/submit-to-the-annals/

Interviewer 9:49
sNAPAhots

Transcribed by https://otter.ai