Anthropology

at Northern Kentucky University

Michael J. Simonton

headshot

Lecturer of Anthropology

Curriculum Vitae

Northern Kentucky University
Department of Sociology/Anthropology/Philosophy
217B Landrum Academic Center
Highland Heights, KY 41099

Phone: (859) 572-1347
FAX: (859) 572-6086

Email: primary address

Website: http://www.nku.edu/~simontonm/

 

Academic Degrees

A.B.D. National University of Ireland
M.A. The Ohio State University, Columbus
B.A. University of Dayton, Ohio

Courses

ANT 100 Cultural Anthropology
ANT 370 Celtic Europe
ANT 371 Psychological Anthropology
ANT 372 Peasant Societies
ANT 375 Anthropology of Aging

Research Interests

Cultural anthropology; applied anthropology; Celtic Europe; Afro-Caribbean; North American Indians; psychological anthropology; culture change; gerontology; peasant studies; religion.

Current Research

fieldwork

My current research is a qualitative longitudinal study of Aging in the north west of Ireland. I have followed the same group of people (or their living relatives) through twenty five years of their life courses as the country and social matrix has experienced recession, inflation, economic boom times, and reversal of emigration that includes new populations in the Irish census. The effects that these contextual variables have had on the lives of my respondents is exemplified, not only in my descriptions of life in the north west of Ireland and my research on institutionalization in a County Mayo nursing home, but in their own stories elicited through in-depth taped interviews that led to a series of life history autobiographies, with a focus on one family in particular in the style of Oscar Lewis' work in The Children of Sanchez and La Vida.

My other research interests have been focused on the origins and migrations of ancient Celtic peoples just prior to and during the Iron Age. My current view in this regard is a rapprochement of those of Barry Cunliffe (mobile warrior elite with expanding sphere's of influence) and Simon James (the current 'Celtic' people may not be the direct descendents of the original Iron Age Celts). Rather, I have tried to use a combination of ancient history, linguistics, oral literature, and archeology to trace the movements of two culturally and geographically related peoples across Europe by different routes to end up as neighbors on the other side of the continent, where they setled among a much larger (demographically) and hostile indigenous population.

Accolades

2006 & 2007 
Northern Kentucky University Student Support Services Faculty of Distinction Award
1985
Finalist, The Ohio State University Distinguished Teaching Award
1976
The Margaret Mary Edmonds Huth Memorial Award of Excellence to the Outstanding Senior in Anthropology, University of Dayton

Selected Publications

2006
Celtic Europe: Ancient and Modern. Entry in Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Sage Publications.
2005
Antigua and Barbuda. Entry in The World Mark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices.
2005
Ireland. Entry in The World Mark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices.