October 8, 2003

Livingston recipient explores ‘The Art of Farming’

Valerie Wheeler, a California State University, Sacramento anthropology professor who blends her study of small farms with photography, has been chosen to deliver this year’s Livingston Lecture.

The academic honor is one of the most prestigious at CSUS.

Valerie Wheeler

Wheeler’s talk, “The Art of Farming: Ethnography Enlightened by Photography,” will be at 3 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 21 in the University Union Ballroom. It will be followed by a reception.

Wheeler has spent 20 years studying the development of small organic farms in Ohio, California and France. In a time when small family farms are struggling to compete, she’s looked into how organic farming has developed, who does it, what they market, who buys from them and what the future holds.

In recent years, Wheeler has also been photographing the farms she studies. She says doing so helps her better understand the work farmers do to create order.

Her work is now on display in the CSUS Anthropology Museum in Mendocino Hall 1000. The exhibit is open 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesday through Friday through Oct. 31, and also includes antique farm tools and scale models on loan from the Heidrick Agricultural History Center in Woodland.

The Livingston Lecture is named in honor of the late Jack Livingston, a respected CSUS government professor and faculty leader from 1954 to 1982. Livingston is remembered as an inspiration to both faculty and students.

The annual lecture recognizes a faculty member who has played an active role in the life of the University and shown a strong commitment to students, while remaining active in creative and scholarly activities. It is organized by the Faculty Senate.

For more about the Anthropology Museum exhibit, call (916) 278-6067. Media assistance is available from CSUS public affairs at (916) 278-6156.

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