AnthroAlert: An Anthropology Podcast · René Dario Herrera

AnthroAlert on Bulls Radio: Soil

·45 min·2 clips

Loss on ignition shows some Antigua soils at two percent or below, far under the three-to-six percent target.

The show starts on campus radio and sets itself up as a weekly anthropology conversation from USF Bulls Radio, built to make the field feel less abstract. Anthony is the guest. He is a PhD student in applied anthropology at the University of South Florida, and he is doing fieldwork in Antigua, West Indies, on the impact of colonial sugarcane monoculture on the fertility and stability of the contemporary landscape and the livelihoods of Antiguans today. Soil is the entry point, but the conversation keeps circling back to the larger question of what plantation history leaves behind. Historical maps matter here. Anthony explains that his sampling strategy is shaped by Betty’s Hope and by where different plots sit across the landscape. Geomorphology comes in as well. He uses it to think about landforms, how they connect to the plantation landscape, and what those changes can show about human impact over time. The fieldwork itself is hands-on. He describes collecting samples with a bucket auger, a T-bar tool with a small cutting bucket on the end that screws into the ground and pulls soil back up. Sampling is spread across plots and changes in elevation, and he says the rule of thumb is to take three samples to compare them. Back at USF, the samples can go through physical and chemical analyses. Munsell color charts show up as one of the basic tools for matching soil hues and values and getting a rough read on the sample. The conversation ends on a lighter note with the hosts talking about regular get-togethers, Anthropology in Action Day, and celebrating a successful semester with faculty, students, and the Applied Anthropology Graduate Student Organization.

As heard by us

Soil, colonial history, and an anthropology conversation that stays concrete.

Anthro Alert turns soil into a focused look at colonial history and landscape change. Anthony's work in Antigua gives the conversation its backbone, moving from historical maps and Betty's Hope to hand augering, landforms, and the basic question of how human impact shows up in…

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Why you'd press play

If you want anthropology that moves from soil sampling to colonial sugarcane history.

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