Stephen Chrisomalis |
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| Contact Information | Department of Anthropology Wayne State University 3054 FAB, 656 Reuther Mall Detroit, MI 48202 313-577-9922 |
| Research Interests | cognitive anthropology; linguistic anthropology; numerals and numeration; cross-cultural studies; writing systems and literacy; ethnomathematics; evolution and prehistory of language; history of anthropology and archaeology |
| Current Appointments |
Assistant Professor Department of Anthropology, Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan) (Cross-Appointment in Linguistics Program) 2008 - Associate Scholar Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) 2004 - |
| Previous Appointments |
Faculty Lecturer and Research Associate Department of Anthropology McGill University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) 2006 - 2008 Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer Department of Anthropology University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) 2003-2006 |
| Education | Ph.D, Anthropology (2003) McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada The Comparative History of Numerical Notation Advisor: Prof. Bruce G. Trigger Dean's Honours List  B.A., Anthropology (1996) McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Major in Anthropology, minor in International Justice and Human Rights; magna cum laude |
| Funded Research |
Research Associateship ($15,000 CDN) Department of Anthropology, McGill University 2007-2008 Funding for research in cross-cultural anthropology Dean's Development Fund Grant ($900 CDN) Faculty of Arts, McGill University 2007-2008 Funding awarded for curation, cataloguing, initial start-up costs, 'Bruce Trigger Memorial Collection' SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship ($75,000 CDN) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada University of Toronto 2004-2006 Funding for postdoctoral project, Linguistic and graphic representations of number Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Fellowship ($5000 CDN) McGill University 2001 Funding awarded for doctoral thesis writing SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship ($68,000 CDN) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada 1997-2001 Funding awarded for doctoral thesis research and writing Max Stern Recruitment Fellowship ($14,000 CDN) McGill University 1996-1997 Entry fellowship awarded to undertake Ph.D. coursework |
| Awards |
AUS Excellence in Teaching Award McGill University, Arts Undergraduate Society 2008 Prix d'Excellence de l'ADESAQ Association des doyens des Etudes Sup�rieures au Qu�bec 2004 Award for the most distinguished 2003 Quebec dissertation in all humanities, social sciences and fine arts disciplines |
| Publications |
(2010) Numerical Notation: A Comparative History. New York: Cambridge University Press. (2009) Beyond teleology: Ancient mathematics and social history. Antiquity 83(321): 849-851. (2009) The cognitive and cultural foundations of numbers, in The Oxford Handbook of the History of Mathematics, Eleanor Robson and Jacqueline Stedall, eds, pp. 495-517. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (2008) The origins and co-evolution of literacy and numeracy, in The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy, David R. Olson and Nancy Torrance, eds, pp. 59-74. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (2008) (Jess Beck and Stephen Chrisomalis) Landscape archaeology, paganism, and the interpretation of megaliths. The Pomegranate: Journal of Pagan Studies 10(2): 142-162. (2007) The perils of pseudo-Orwellianism. Antiquity 81(311): 204-207. (2006) Comparing cultures and comparing processes: diachronic methods in cross-cultural anthropology. Cross-Cultural Research 40(3): 1-28. (2006) Comparative archaeology: an unheralded cross-cultural method. In The Archaeology of Bruce G. Trigger: Theoretical Empiricism, Ronald Williamson and Michael Bisson, eds., pp. 36-51. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. (2004) A cognitive typology for numerical notation. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 14(1): 37-52. (2004) (with Bruce G. Trigger) Reconstructing prehistoric ethnicity: problems and possibilities, in A Passion for the Past: Papers in Honour of James F. Pendergast, James V. Wright and Jean-Luc Pilon, eds., pp. 419-433. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization. (2003) The Egyptian origin of the Greek alphabetic numerals. Antiquity 77(297): 485-496. BBC News report on this paper. (forthcoming) Social and graphic aspects of number symbols, in The Shape of Script: How and Why Writing Systems Change, Stephen Houston, ed. Santa Fe: School of Advanced Research Press. |
| Teaching |
Wayne State University, Department of Anthropology 2008 - Courses taught: Language and Culture (intermediate / senior course) Language and Societies (senior / graduate course) McGill University, Department of Anthropology 2006 - 2008 Courses taught: History of Archaeological Theory (honors core program requirement) Evolutionary Anthropology (introductory four-field course) Current Issues in Archaeology (senior honours seminar) Writing and Literacy (senior special topics seminar) Pseudoarchaeology (senior special topics seminar) Prehistoric Archaeology (intensive introductory course) Archaeological Methods (honors core program requirement) Supervision of honors student projects and graduate theses University of Toronto, Department of Anthropology 2003 - 2006 Courses taught: Comparative Civilizations (senior special topics seminar) Introductory Anthropology (intensive introductory course) Advanced Archaeological Theory (senior core theory seminar) McGill University, Dept. of Anthropology 2001-2002 Comparative Cultures (intensive introductory course) |
| Research Employment |
Research Assistant, Prof. Bruce G. Trigger May - August 2003 Reading, note-taking and research of literature in the history and sociology of archaeology for B.G. Trigger, A History of Archaeological Thought, 2nd ed. (in preparation). Research Assistant, Prof. Bruce G. Trigger July - August 2002 Proofreading, editing and indexing of manuscript of Artifacts and Ideas (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2003). Research Assistant, Prof. Bruce G. Trigger January - April 2002 Research and data collection on the topic of prehistoric ethnicity and the 'race-language-culture' polemic, leading to the co-authored paper, 'Reconstructing prehistoric ethnicity' (see above) |
| Scholarly Presentations |
(2009) "Numbering by the Books: The Transition from Roman to Hindu-Arabic Numerals in Late Medieval Book Technologies" International Medieval Congress (Kalamazoo, MI) (2009) "Frequency dependent biases and the transmission of communication technologies" Society for Anthropological Sciences 5th annual meeting (Las Vegas, NV) (2009) "Linking graphic and lexical representations of numbers" Linguistics Colloquium, Wayne State University 2008 "What language is STOP?: Language ideology and identity in Montreal's signscape" Humanities Center Brownbag series, Wayne State University (2008) "What language is 'STOP'?" Michigan Linguistics Society 38th Annual Meeting (Detroit, MI) (2007) "Trends and Transformations: A Social History of Numeral Symbols" School of Advanced Research (Santa Fe, NM), Advanced Seminar, "The Shape of Script: How and Why Writing Systems Change" (2006) (with Andre Costopoulos): "Is Anthropology Ready for Ultimate Questions? A Reply to Boas" McGill University Department of Anthropology Speaker Series (2005) "Outnumbered: A Sociocultural Analysis of the Decline and Fall of Numeral Systems" University of Toronto, Dept. of Anthropology Colloquium Series (2005) "Evaluating Ancient Numeracy: Social versus Developmental Perspectives on Ancient Mesopotamian Numeration" June 2005 Jean Piaget Society (Vancouver, British Columbia) (2004) "Diachronic Comparison: An Archaeological Method for Cross-Cultural Research" Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting (Montreal, Quebec) (2004) "Rethinking the Typology of Numerical Notation" York University Seminar in History and Philosophy of Mathematics and Mathematics Education (Toronto, Ontario) (2004) "Reckoning, Recording, and 'Rithmetic: Rethinking the Spurious Functional Linkage between Numeration and Mathematical Efficiency" University of Toronto, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology Colloquium Series (Toronto, Ontario) (2002) "Zero is No Hero: Misgivings on Progressivism in Numeration" McGill University Department of Anthropology Speaker Series (Montreal, Quebec) (1999) "Why 2K? Millennial Observations on Numerical Notation" McGill University Archaeology Colloquium (Montreal, Quebec) |
| Service |
2007-08: Supervisor, Bruce Trigger Memorial Collection Duties include collection and curation of materials, overseeing graduate student cataloguers, grant application and purchasing 2006-07: Co-chair, McGill Anthropology Visiting Speakers Series Duties include arranging speakers and topics for regular departmental seminar series, advertising and managing speaker visits |
| Languages | English (fluent - native speaker) French (high proficiency reading, writing and speaking) German, Latin (read for research purposes) |
| Other Experience |
(2008) A biography of the ampersand. Introduction, The Ampersand: Journal of the Bachelor of Arts and Science, vol. 1, pp. 1-2. 2008-present: Glossographia: Essays and informal writings on the intersection of linguistics, literacy studies, archaeology, and anthropology. 2008-present: Stop: Toutes Directions: A student-driven online research project into spatial and linguistic aspects of stop signs in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 2008 - present: The Dollarware Project: A student-driven research project on aspects of discount ceramic drinking vessels in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 2007-present: Editor, Pseudo-Archaeology Research Archive (PARA): An online archive of student scholarship and other essays critically analyzing fringe and cult ideas in archaeology and related aspects of anthropology. 1996 - present: Webmaster, The Phrontistery A web site oriented around the study of obscure English words and lexicography, as well as topics related to my academic research in numeration. |
| Professional Associations |
American Anthropological Association Society for Anthropological Sciences Linguistic Society of America History of Science Society Society for Cross-Cultural Research Jean Piaget Society International Study Group on Ethnomathematics |
| References | Available upon request |