Kasakoff

Alice Bee Kasakoff
PhD., Harvard University 1970
Professor


Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:30 to 3:30 and Thursdays 12:45 – 1:45
Phone Number: 777-6979
Hamilton 301
Email: kasakoff@sc.edu

Current Research
Migration and Family Processes over 10 Generations. This research, based upon published genealogies, follows the descendents of 9 male progenitors who came to Massachusetts prior to 1650, when the majority of ancestors of the “Yankees” arrived in North America. By 1850 their descendents had spread from New England across the US North to the Mississippi. The data are unique because they follow migrants and allow entire life courses to be reconstructed and linked over generations in the male line. The data demonstrate how migrants – over 60% of men in this population – differed from those who did not move, and, thus, the importance of including them in demographic studies. We critique the notion of place as it has been used in anthropology and demography and advocate a change from the study of crisply bounded spaces to the study of migration streams and the intergenerational processes which link streams to each other. (This research was begun in conjunction with John W. Adams).

The individuals in the genealogies have been linked to the manuscript censuses of 1850 to 1880, which contains information on household composition, occupation and wealth. Currently I am studying how families affected social mobility in this group of people. Wealth was clustered in 1860, the first year the census recorded both real and personal property. How the father’s wealth, the length of time the family had been living in a location, or the presence of relatives close by, affect the clustering of wealth? Or was it more a result of economic opportunities which were, themselves, clustered spatially? I am also interested in sibling differences in migration which affected social mobility. The last born son tended to remain near his parents during adulthood to help when they were old, while the first and middle siblings were more apt to have moved away. But, the last born was less wealthy 20 years later than his elder brothers, even though several had inherited the farm from their parents. These data speak to the extent to which inequality within families led to inequality between them in succeeding generations.

Migration during the 19th Century in Comparative Perspective: We have compared migration over the life course with migration in 2 industrializing European populations (the Netherlands and Northern Sweden (Umea Demographic Database)). Europe and the US were quite different migration systems during the 19th century. In Europe, people moved much shorter distances than in the US and more of it was youth migration than in the US, where migration occurred later in the life course, during the course of child bearing. We are currently studying the proximity to relatives in Northern Sweden and the US, focusing particularly on gender differences and how families managed elderly care at a time before welfare.

Recent Presentations & Papers
"Care of the Elderly in a Time of Demographic Transition-The U.S. North 1850 to 1870" TEXT TABLES
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, April 2007

"Spatial Concentration of Wealth in the American North in 1860"
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Social Science History Association, November 2007

"The Fabric of Time is Torn: Migration in the US North and Europe in the 19th Century" TEXT TABLES
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Social Science History Association, November 2007

Courses Taught
ANTH 102 – Understanding Other Cultures
ANTH 317 – North American Indian Cultures
ANTH 351 – The Family in Cross-cultural Perspective
ANTH 358 – Gender, Culture & Behavior
ANTH 730 – Cultural Theory Through Ethnography
ANTH 770 – Demographic Anthropology
ANTH 772 – Gender and Culture: Gender, Migration & Families