Minor in Folklore and Mythology

Amen Negash, 2024

What was the most impactful class you took in your major? what made it so? The professor? The assignments? What you read or learned?

Cultures of Death, ANTH 321, was one of my favorite classes I took in this major. The contents of the class spoke me to me a lot, as I find the study of death and the way cultures and societies deal with, process and understand death and the afterlife to be somethings extremely interesting to me. The entire class fulfilled a part of my curiosity and academic interest in a way other class didn't. Another class that falls in this same area of interest, is RELI 240, Death/Afterlife in Religion. These two classes cemented in my head that Anthropology was the correct major for me, as I had jumped between a few majors prior to deciding on anthropology.

What activities were you involved in during your time at Mason that impacted you? A club? Research? Internship? Study abroad? Can you describe that experience a bit?

I did a few things while here at Mason. Firstly, I was a research assistant for Rick Smith in his Critical Molecular Anthropology Lab. As a part of that, I aided in research specifically about the matrilocality and patrilocality of modern day Mayans in Belize. Though this, I was granted the privilege of presenting our findings in the Undergrad symposium at the American Association for Biological Anthropologists, the AABAs, in Los Angles California. That was a really fun and fruitful experience. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, and put me in an unfamiliar academic setting, and I learned a lot from it.

This experience really helped me learn what I liked and didn't like to do academically, and really cemented my love for research. Alongside this, over the summer I had an internship at the Center for Folk-life and Cultural Heritage with the Smithsonian in DC. This internship was more related to my Minor, but I was able to include my anthropology background here as well. This was a very impactful internship, I made wonderful connections here and expanded my body of knowledge. This mixed my love for anthropology and history, with my love for archiving and research in a perfect way. I was able to work for a few days in the Folk-life Festival they held on the Mall, the Rinzler archives and the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

What is your most memorable moment at Mason inside or outside of the classroom? Can you describe it?

My most memorable moment at mason would be having the ability to present in Los Angeles in the AABA's. When I started college, I didn't expect to enjoy it, much less actually do impactful and important research and travel for my education. I'm really grateful for the opportunity, as well as just being at Mason. I feel like my time at mason has helped me blossom and really come into the person I want to be. I started my college journey at NOVA community College, unsure of what I had wanted to even do, and ended my college journey graduating from GMU in a major and minor I really am passionate about. I am very grateful and thankful for this school and the opportunities granted to me while here.

As your reflecting on your time at Mason, what is one piece of advice you would give a student who is just starting off on their Mason journey?

I would have to say, it's okay if you don't know what you want to do. If you feel confused or unsure of what your future holds, that's okay. There are so many options, and there's no shame in changing until you find something you actually enjoy. I would say, become friends with your professors, advisors and just anyone who you feel like shares the same academic goals as you. Join clubs, join research projects, be active and have fun. College is all about exploring, about learning, so don't be afraid to explore and learn. And everyone is on a different life path, don't look at others for what you are lacking in, instead look at others and see what you can learn from them.

What is your next step after graduation? What are your future plans?

After Graduation, my immediate plans are to just work for a bit. However, in the Fall I plan on applying for a graduate certificate in Public Digital Humanities here at Mason, and then eventually going to a master’s program for archival or library sciences at a different institute. My long-term goal is to work in research, archives or museums.