Anthropology honors graduate explores link between addiction and Georgia鈥檚 shrimping decline
Anthropology graduate Logan Collins fondly remembers the first classes that brought her to the front door of 快猫app短视’s Carroll Building.
“I was initially looking to do a history degree,” explained Collins, also an Honors College student. “But then I realized I wanted to do that because I enjoyed connecting with people living through historical events.”
Those first courses 鈥� Intro to Social Science and Intro to Natural Science 鈥� were an affirmation that she was in the right place.
“It was so much fun, even though I literally had no clue what I was doing,” she said. “All I knew was that I wanted to be there.”
That kicked off a journey that hasn’t slowed down. Since then, she’s consulted on countless interdisciplinary projects, interned at a Bulloch County recovery center and flown across the country to attend anthropological conferences, all while working on a grueling and deeply personal thesis for the Honors College.
“I worked with Dr. Jennifer Tookes on analyzing the relationship between narcotics and Georgia’s shrimping industry,” she said. “The industry is in decline for a lot of reasons: environmental regulations, government regulations and it’s difficult to make a profit. But substance abuse also plays a crucial role in that decline.”
Collins explained the abuse stems from a few sources: years of untreated injuries due to a lack of health insurance, as well as shrimpers who want to stay awake as long as possible to make as much money as they can.
“I loved being with the shrimpers,” she said. “My family has a history of addiction. I grew up in the back of churches hosting Narcotics Anonymous meetings, hanging out with the children of addicts. So as I was doing this, I realized so much of my life revolved around recovery.”
That personal connection only proves how important the study of anthropology is, she said.
“So much of anthropology is talking with people, listening to them and seeing the threads of community that connect them,” she said.
Collins’ love of finding those communal threads has gone beyond what would constitute a hobby. She developed a keen eye for picking out hidden connections between people, following them relentlessly to see where they lead. It’s a habit she’s built over the years, ever since she was a young child with a calendar to maintain.
“I did ballet for 12 years,” said the Commerce, Georgia, native. “I was on the swim team for most of my childhood. I was really into theater. I was in the marching band and color guard with the flags.”
She wanted to bring that same can-do, say-yes-to-anything attitude with her to college, but she wasn’t sure where she wanted to go. Her high school counselor and Georgia Southern alumna Sarah Holmes (’16) encouraged her to check out Southeast Georgia’s prettiest little campus.
“I had gone on a few college tours by then, but nothing stuck out,” she explained. “Sarah was really insistent that I go tour Southern, so I did and fell absolutely in love with the campus. The pedestrium, the trees, all of it鈥 just loved it.”
She got to work the moment she set foot on campus.
“I just started doing things that sounded interesting to me,” Collins explained. “That’s how I got involved with the Model UN, the ethics bowl team鈥 even became a resident advisor and part of the college partnership for prevention program.”
But she admits that she may have gotten a little too involved at first.
“I started by taking on like 18 credit hours,” she said. “That was鈥oo much. But it helped me understand my limits and what I was capable of. It also taught me that I’m much more interest-driven than goal-driven.”
That willingness to follow her interests is what carried her across the stage at Georgia Southern’s 2026 spring commencement. Her journey won’t end here; her goal is to earn a Ph.D. in addictive disorders and recovery studies to help communities suffering from issues she’s all too familiar with.
“Anyone I’ve ever interviewed always leaves me feeling like there’s still hope for the world,” she said. “That people can have a conversation in the age of social media and screens. So for me, every interaction I have is my chance to inject a little humanity back into the world.”