JESSICA MADISON-PÍSKATÁ
Curriculum Vitae
March 15th, 2022
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Anthropology, University of California at Santa Cruz, 2021
M.A. Anthropology, University of California at Santa Cruz, 2015
M.F.A. Creative Writing (Poetry), The New School (2010)
B.A. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, (May, 2007)
PUBLICATIONS
Edited Volumes
2022 “The Energitei Body: Energy Centers and Geosocial Health in Mongolia.” In Navigating Medicine, Health, and Ethnography in North and East Asia. Ed. Manduhai Buyandelger and Mari Valdur (Forthcoming).
Refereed Journal Articles
2021 “On Offering and Forgiveness at Altan Ovoo’s National Tahilga.” In Études mongoles & sibériennes, centrasiatiques & tibétaines (EMSCAT). Volume 52, 2021
Book Reviews
2022 Literature and Politics in Mongolia (1921-1948) by Simon Wickhamsmith, Mongolia Society (forthcoming 2022)
2017 Fear and Fortune: Spirit Worlds and Emerging Economies in the Mongolian Gold Rush by Mette M. High. Inner Asia 19, issue 2 (2017): 315-17.
Web-Based Publications
2020 “Introduction to Grass Trilogy” In SAPIENS. Earth Day 50th Anniversary Issue, Apr. 22, 2020. LINK
2018 (published as Madison, Jessica) “Golden Mountain, Iron Heap: A Poetic Ethnography of Extraction in Eastern Mongolia.” In A Non-secular Anthropocene: Spirits, Specters and Other Nonhumans in a Time of Environmental Change. More-than-Human. AURA Working Papers Volume 3, 2018. N. Bubandt, ed. LINK
2018 (with Marissa J. Smith) “White Tower, Yellow Dog: Kheviin Boov as the Centerpiece of Exchange and Transformation—Tsagaan Sar Gift Index 2018.” UCL Emerging Subjects Blog. LINK
Translations
2020 “Grass Trilogy: 3 Poems by Ochirbatyn Dashbalbar.” trans. Jessica Madison Pískatá In SAPIENS. Earth Day 50th Anniversary Issue, Apr. 22, 2020. LINK
Poetry
2010 (published as Madison, Jessica) “Two Poems by Jessica Madison.” Augury Books. LINK
2010 “Angelenos” The Sonora Review 34.
FELLOWSHIPS & GRANTS
Chancellor’s Dissertation Fellowship, UC Santa Cruz, 2020
Field Research Fellowship, American Center for Mongolian Studies, 2017
Visiting Scholar Fellowship, Aarhus University Research Foundation, 2017
Research Grant, China and Inner Asia Council, Association for Asian Studies, 2016
Language Fellowship, American Center for Mongolian Studies, 2015
Travel Fellowship, Graduate Awards Committee, UC Santa Cruz, 2015, 2016, 2017
Creative Writing Fellowship, The New School, 2008
INVITED TALKS
2019 “Mongolian Geosocialities.” ACES Brown Bag, Hamilton Luger School of Global and International Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington.
2017 “Golden Mountain, Iron Heap: A Poetic Ethnography of Extraction in Eastern Mongolia.” UC Berkeley Mongolia Initiative, Berkeley.
2017 “Golden Mountain, Iron Heap: Ethnography and Extraction in Eastern Mongolia,” American Center for Mongolian Studies Speaker Series, Ulaanbaatar.
CONFERENCE ACTIVITY & PARTICIPATION
Panels Organized
2018 “Humans and Others in the Post-Socialist World.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Jose.
Conferences Organized
2016 UCSC Anthropology Department Graduate Student Conference: “Shapes, Colors, Contours.” UC Santa Cruz.
Workshops Attended
2021 Social Science Research Council Religion and the Public Sphere Summer Institute, Religion, Spirituality, and Environmental Crises, Santa Fe, NM.
2021 University of Helsinki, Medical and Medicinal Margins in Inner Asia, Remote.
2019 UC Santa Cruz Anthropology Department, Pedagogy Workshop, Santa Cruz, CA.
2019 UC Berkeley Mongolia Initiative, Points of Transition: Ovoo and the Ritual Remaking of Religious, Ecological, and Historical Politics in Inner Asia, Berkeley, CA.
Papers Presented
2021 “Ecological Genius on Mongolia’s Eastern Steppe.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Baltimore, MD.
2020* “The Energitei Body: Energy Centers and Geosocial Health in Mongolia.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, St. Louis MO.
2020* “Seven Years on the Shuudan.” Eurasian Spaces Conference. UC Berkeley, Berkeley.
2020* “On Energi” Annual Meeting of the Mongolia Society. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
2019 “Radium Palace: Radioactive Ecologies, Post-Atomic Futures and the Chain of Decay.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association and the Canadian Anthropological Society, Vancouver, BC.
2019 “On Sacrifice, Desire, and Forgiveness at Altan Ovoo’s National Tahilga.” Points of Transition: Ovoo and the Ritual Remaking of Religious, Ecological, and Historical Politics in Inner Asia. UC Berkeley.
2018 “Chains of Decay: Radioactive Half-Lives in two Post-Soviet Mining Towns.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Jose, CA.
2017 “Golden Mountain, Iron Heap: A Poetic Ethnography of Extraction in Eastern Mongolia.” Non-Secular Anthropocene Conference, Copenhagen
2016 “Opportunity, Degradation, and the Gendering of Space on a Mined Mongolian Landscape.” Central Eurasian Studies Conference, Indiana University.
2014 “The Yellow and the Black: Shamanic Dualism in Mongolia.” Energies Conference, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
*Cancelled due to COVID-19
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Oberlin College
Visiting Assistant Professor in Anthropology
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Fall 2021, Spring 2022)
Environmental Anthropology (Spring 2022)
University of California at Santa Cruz
Instructor of Record
Introduction to Anthropology, UC Santa Cruz, Summer Quarter 2019 and 2020.
Tutoring Writing in Anthropology, UC Santa Cruz, Fall Quarter 2019.
Teaching Assistant
Analysis of Field Materials, UC Santa Cruz, Winter Quarter 2020.
Survey of Cultural Anthropology Theory, UC Santa Cruz, Winter Quarter 2017 and 2019.
Language and Culture, UC Santa Cruz, Spring Quarter 2016.
Anthropology of Children and Childhoods, UC Santa Cruz, Winter Quarter 2016.
Communicating Anthropology, UC Santa Cruz, Fall Quarter 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Introduction to Anthropology, UC Santa Cruz, Spring Quarter 2015.
Land and Waterscapes, UC Santa Cruz, Winter Quarter 2015.
Shildeg Mongolian-American School, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Advanced Placement English Language and Literature, Instructor, 2017-2018.
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition, Instructor, 2017-2018.
Temuulel Complex School (School #2), Sukhbaatar, Mongolia
English Language (TESOL) 4th-12th grade, Foreign Language Teacher, 2011-2013.
SERVICE TO PROFESSION
Poetry Consultant, American Repertory Theater, The Story of the Weeping Camel (in production)
Contributing Social Media Editor, Society for Cultural Anthropology (2020-2021)
Poetry Editor, Feral Atlas (2020)
Reader, Golden Snail Opera, Performance at Aarhus University (2017)
DEPARTMENTAL & UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Instructor, Anthropology Writing Program (2019-present)
Organizer, Emerging Genres Writing Workshop (2016-2017)
Organizer and Fundraising Coordinator, UCSC Graduate Student Conference (2016)
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Panelist, USC Peace Corps Alumni Panel, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. (2021)
Lecture, “Writing the Personal Essay: Forms, Methods, and Strategies.” Mongolian National University of Education, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. (2018)
Lecture, “Teaching Writing in the United States.” National University of Mongolia, Orkhon Branch, Erdenet City, Mongolia. (2017)
Presentation, “The Endless Knot: Discourses of Re-Enchantment in Post-Soviet Mongolia.” Peace Corps Connect Conference, San Francisco. (2015)
RELATED EMPLOYMENT
Writing Instructor, Academia English Language Institute, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (2018)
Writing Instructor, Shildeg Mongolian-American Cooperation School, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (2017-2018)
Peace Corps Volunteer, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, United States Peace Corps, Mongolia (2011-2013)
Writing Instructor, Education Unlimited, Berkeley, California (2008-2011)
Editorial Assistant, The Gothamist, New York, New York (2008-2010)
Editorial Intern, People Magazine, Los Angeles, California (2008)
Editorial Intern, LA Alternative Press, Los Angeles, California (2006-2007)
COMMUNITY SERVICE (NON-ACADEMIC)
Volunteer, Friends of Mongolia. (2017)
Instructor and Counselor, New Dariganga Children’s Camp, Sukhbaatar, Mongolia (2012)
Instructor and Counselor, “Dream Camp” at the Sukhbaatar Province Center for Children (2012)
Education, Peace Corps Mongolia Anti-Trafficking in Persons Task Force (2011-2013)
Volunteer, PEN America Prison Writers’ Program (2008)
Writing Tutor, 826LA Echo Park (2007)
LANGUAGES
English: Native-speaker proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and oral comprehension.
Mongolian: Advanced proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and oral comprehension.
German: Intermediate proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and oral comprehension.
Czech: Heritage proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and oral comprehension.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS
2020 Oberlin College, Affiliated Scholar
2020 University of California Humanities Research Initiative in Post-socialist Studies
2020 Society for Cultural Anthropology, Contributing Editor
2019 Alumna Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop
2019 Mongolia Society
2019 Soyuz: The Research Network for Post-socialist Cultural Studies
2017 Anthropology and Environment Society
2016 Society for the Anthropology of Religion
2016 American Anthropological Association
2016 Society for Humanistic Anthropology
2015 Association for Asian Studies
2013 American Center for Mongolian Studies
2011 United States Peace Corps Association