Blog #2.6 Meet Shaye Soifoine
Bio: Shaye Soifoine is pursuing a PhD in Applied Anthropology at the University of South Florida (USF). Her research focuses on the interplay between agricultural production and social reproduction within localized environmental landscapes. She is particularly interested in how communities change over time and how people construct culturally desirable futures in an increasingly globalized world threatened by climate change and neoliberal dispossession. Shaye has a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with a minor in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) from Missouri State University and a Master’s degree in Applied Anthropology from USF. Prior to graduate school, she taught English in Thailand and was a Peace Corps education volunteer in the Comoros.
Research team in 2023: Ethnographic team lead and consultant to the life cycle assessment team
Pre-departure thoughts: Right now, I’m back in Missouri visiting family and friends before spending the summer in Morocco and the Comoros doing ethnographic research. The last time I traveled abroad from Missouri was in early June nearly six years ago when I left for the Peace Corps. I have been reflecting on how much I have learned and changed during this interval and feeling grateful that I have been able to travel extensively and work abroad as well as pursue advanced degrees in anthropology. I’m very much looking forward to the new experiences this summer will bring such as working on an interdisciplinary research team and traveling to the Maghreb.
For me, the nervous anticipation of travel never kicks in until after takeoff. Once the plane has leveled out and I feel the air under my feet, it really sinks in that I am off on a new adventure. In preparation for this summer, our team has been learning basic Moroccan Arabic (Darija). I speak Comorian which borrows heavily from Arabic, so it has been fun to see the similarities and differences between the two languages. I can’t wait to meet our Moroccan research partners, pick up more Darija, and take in daily Moroccan life. I am especially excited to interview Amazigh women and try Moroccan foods, including argan oil.
