Meg Watjen

2009 Student Awards and Scholarships

Spring 2009 Undergraduate Research Assistantship

The school’s undergraduate research assistantships provide students a chance to undertake independent, cutting-edge research while working closely with a faculty advisor. Their research findings are often published. Students also gain a competitive edge for graduate school and the job market.

"I chose ASU because it has a great reputation, and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change is well respected. There are some great Southeast Asianists in the department with whom I wanted to work." 

 — Meg Watjen

Years ago, a friend gave Meg a copy of the Marvin Harris book Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Some time after that, she mentioned her interest in the book to an anthropology major, who suggested she consider anthropology as a degree. After taking her first cultural anthropology class, Meg was hooked.

This young woman from Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, loves to learn about people and their practices. Her focus is food and culture, including the diffusion of ingredients from one region to another, as well as varying uses of ingredients in different regions. She is especially interested in Southeast Asia and is even studying the Indonesian language.

Meg is working under the direction of applied anthropologist Colleen O'Brien on a research project that will be folded into her honors thesis. Regarding the diffusion of chili peppers to Southeast Asia, the project involves studying the writings of Paul Rozin and Gary Nabhan, among others, to discern the possible reasons people in Southeast Asia quickly adopted chili pepper into their cuisine — to the point that most Southeast Asians consider chili peppers a native food.

Having recently added a minor in history, Meg will be completing her honors thesis next fall. Her plans after graduation include graduate school and as much travel as possible. She would like to write about food and culture and is interested in looking into how immigrant communities adapt their cuisines to their new environment.

Special thanks to:

Colleen O'Brien, her "excellent mentor"; James Eder; Leif Jonsson; and Thomas Hudak, who have "provided extremely valuable guidance and advice on all things Southeast Asian." She also thanks Alissa Ruth for being "an amazing advisor" whose support has been invaluable. In addition, she would like to thank Michael Smith and Barbara Stark, about whom she states, "I really enjoyed their Mesoamerican classes, and both of them also took the time to share their thoughts and ideas on chili pepper use in Mesoamerica." And finally, Meg wishes to thank James Rush, the chair of her honors thesis committee; Mark Jacobs, who is a member of her thesis committee; and Peter Suwarno, her Indonesian language teacher.