Anthropology Graduate Student Association

Search IU Anthropology:

Sociocultural Graduate Students
(email followed by "at sign" then "indiana.edu")

Ryan Adams email: RTADAMS advisor: Moran year: 01

Research Interests: economic anthropology, human/environment interaction, agriculture, social class identity, Amazônia, Brazil My research interests include the current and historical development strategies in the Brazilian Amazon, theories of human interactions with the environment, and the expression and formation of identity under differing economic systems. My dissertation topic more narrowly focuses on the expansion of large-scale mechanized soybean production in Santarém, Pará State, Brazil. This new land use is seen as a way to improve the economic potential of the land and the position of Brazil in the world economy. The effects of this development on the communities of small-scale farmers in Santarém remain uncertain.

Christina Alcalde email: CMALCALD advisor: Clark year: 99

Research Interests:

Bryn Bakoyema email: BBAKOYEM advisor: Moran year: 01

Research Interests: migration and deforestation, human-environment interactions, economic anthropology, household dynamics, Sub-Saharan Africa I am investigating how increased migration near forest reserves affects forest management in Uganda; taking into account issues such as ethnic differences, production strategies, community forest use, land tenure, and government policy.

Nicholas Belle email: NBELLE advisor: DeMallie year: 05

Research Interests: Native American music and dance My main research interests lie within Native American dance and music culture, specifically powwow and War Dance Societies of Sioux groups in the North American and Canadian Plains- South and North Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. I am interested in the development and diffusion of these dance cultures and the role they played in the formation and adoption of new forms of both tribal and pan-Indian identities. I would also like to look within specific culture groups (Grass and Chicken Dancers) in Canada, as many of these dancers exhibit aspects of dance and outfitting that does not seem to be found elsewhere in North America and has not been seen since the original Dance Societies existed hundreds of years ago.

Mara Bernstein email: MADBERNS advisor: Bahloul/Royce year: 07

Research Interests:

Laura Blancq email: LBLANCQ advisor: Royce year: 01

Research Interests:

Heidi Bludau email: HBLUDAU advisor: Phillips/Royce year: 04 personal website

Research Interests: identity, ethnicity, nationalism, post-socialism, migration, food, gender, globalization, Eastern Europe, Czech Republic

Okomfo (Ama) Boakyewa email: OBOAKYEW advisor: Clark year: 01

Research Interests:

Kimberly Bohannon email: KMBOHANN advisor: Royce/Thomas year: 04

Research Interests: music, identity, Evangelical Christians, performance I'm interested in the intersection between music and identity formation, particularly as it applies to Evangelical Christians. Theoretically I am intrigued by the concept of performativity, geographically I will be focusing on the Navajo Nation.

Kathryn Boswell email: KBOSWELL advisor: Clark year: 01

Research Interests: migration, nationalism/transnationalism, discourse, gender, Islam, Francophone Africa, and colonial history in West Africa My research examines the reintegration of those labor migrants who have repatriated to Burkina Faso since the beginning of the Ivoirian civil war in 2002. It examines the similiarities and differences between these recent repatriates and those who returned before 2002 in an attempt to understand changes to a migration pattern which has historically joined Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. This examination into the mechanics of these migrants' reintegration in Burkina Faso also exposes a changing discourse in which migrants and their families increasingly engage, revealing new ways of thinking about Burkina Faso as both their nation and their homeland.

Kelly Branam email: KBRANAM advisor: DeMallie year: 00

Research Interests:

Samuel Buelow email: SRBUELOW advisor: Sharani year: 06

Research Interests: Post-Soviet Kazakhstan, identity, gender, sexuality, status, cosmopolitanism, partner choice, marriage, masculinities, advancement strategies

Christina Burke email: CBURKE advisor: DeMallie year: 94

Research Interests: Native North America, ethnohistory, museum anthropology, art and material culture, language and literacy My research area is North America, specifically native peoples of the Northern Plains and Northwest Coast. I'm particularly interested in how American Indians recorded and remembered their histories in pictorial and oral traditions. I explore "Indian histories from Indian perspectives" in my dissertation on Lakota pictographic biographies and calendars (or "winter counts") that were created during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. These images, many of which include native language captions, recorded everyday activities as well as such memorable events as bloody battles, treaty negotiations, natural disasters and new religious ceremonies. Examining these underutilized primary sources (graphic, oral, and textual traditions) contributes to a more accurate and complex view of American Indian history informed by native perspectives.

Lucinda Carspecken email: LCARSPEC advisor: Thomas year: 03

Research Interests:

Pearl Chan email: PECHAN advisor: Royce year: 99 personal website

Research Interests: Chinese diaspora, migration, ethnicity and ethnic identity, oral history, ethnography and literature My current research concerns the processes involved in Chinese migration and adaptation to host cultures and the dynamics of the transnational networks that result. I am specifically examining how Chinese-Canadians situate themselves in their local context and how they place themselves in the larger global idea of a Chinese diaspora.

Jessica Chelekis email: JADELGAD advisor: Wilk year: 05

Research Interests: Household economies, direct selling, gender roles, economic anthropology, Latin America, Brazilian Amazon My research concerns women's work and the informal economy among rural farmers in the Brazilian Amazon estuary and the ways in which prevailing conceptions of gender roles obscure the economic contributions of women. I am specifically interested in the role of direct selling, such as Avon, in household economies and gender roles.

Woojeong Cho email: WJCHO advisor: Phillips year: 04

Research Interests:

Dennis Christafferson email: DCHRISTA advisor: DeMallie year: 92

Research Interests:

Sarah Cluff email: SCLUFF advisor: Clark/Girshick year: 04

Research Interests:

Corinna Cosentino-Quintana email: COQUINTA advisor: Royce year: 01

Research Interests:

Kathleen Costello email: KACOSTEL advisor: Bahloul year: 98

Research Interests: asylum, Scotland, Europe, nationalism, performance, prisons My dissertation is a study of a neighborhood network established in Glasgow, Scotland to support people who have claimed asylum in the UK and are waiting to have their claims evaluated by the British Government.

Evelyn Dean email: EMDEAN advisor: Bahloul year: 04

Research Interests: migration and diasporas, ethnicity and ethnic identity, religion, Jewish cultures (especially Sephardic and Mizrahi), Latin America, Israel, linguistic anthropology, performance theory

Elise DeCamp email: EMDECAMP advisor: Suslak year: 05

Research Interests:

Evan Dennis email: EMDENNIS advisor: Brondizio/Moran year: 04

Research Interests:

Sarah Dillard email: SARDILLA advisor: Royce year: 07

Research Interests:

Karen DuVall email: KDUVALL advisor: Clark year: 02

Research Interests:

William Eastwood email: WEASTWOO advisor: Stoeltje year: 04

Research Interests: The symbolic power of the Georgian Orthodox Church has worked to cement the Georgian community for hundreds of years. In modern times, in particular, Georgian Orthodoxy has come to the fore in the face of Russian and then Soviet occupation. But what history books and national movements do not tell us about are the thriving non-Orthodox Christian congregations, all of them Georgian, except that they do not practice Orthodox Christianity. Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, and others make up a small minority on the Orthodox-dominated landscape, but their presence is very much felt by the many and distrusted. In particular, I'm interested in the Georgian-Baptist community, one that is 18,000-members strong and active since the mid-1800s. What is their story? How do they see themselves, their faith, their nation, their Orthodox neighbors? Are they finding a public voice? My interests revolve around religion in general, Christianity in particular. In addition, those subjects and theoretical discussions that have my attention are nationalism, nation/state formation, ethnographic representations, the post- modern critique of anthropology, and moving beyond the post-modern critique of anthropology.

Julie Fairbanks email: JFAIRBAN advisor: Royce year: 99

Research Interests:

Raymond Fenio email: RFENIO advisor: DeMallie year: 92

Research Interests:

Stefano Fiorini email: SFIORINI advisor: Royce/Moran/Brondizio year: 99

Research Interests:

Alejandro Flores email: AFLORES advisor: Brondizio/Moran year: 98

Research Interests:

Emily Frank email: EFRANK advisor: Wilk year: 00

Research Interests: Southern and East Africa, legal and economic anthropology with a focus on the HIV/AIDS industry, gender relations, notions of modernity My current research focuses on changing inheritance patterns in Southern Zambia in the face of the AIDS pandemic. Changing inheritance patterns have become a focal point for changing gender relations in Zambia and locate questions of tradition and modernity into family relations. I look at this question within a framework of legal pluralism cast against a Zambian state project of modernity. I also have ongoing interests in the AIDS industry, and the interrelationships between peacekeeping and development.

Sue-Je Gage email: SLGAGE advisor: Royce year: 00

Research Interests:

Selam Hailemaraim email: SHAILEMA advisor: Clark year: 98

Research Interests:

Brandon Hale email: BRAHALE advisor: Clark/Bahloul year: 05

Research Interests:

Patricia Hardwick email: PHARWIC advisor: Royce year: 01

Research Interests:

Corey Hayashi email: CHAYASHI advisor: Moran/Brondizio year: 03

Research Interests: ecological anthropology, land use landscape change, deforestation, GIS, Brazilian Amazon region My research intersts are social aspects of deforestation. My studies focus on human dimensions of land-use and landscape change in the Brazilian Amazon using satellite imagery and GIS. MA, Anthropology, University of Hawaii Grad Certificate in Negotiation, Mediation, and Conflict Resolution

Persephone Hintlian email: PHINTLIA advisor: Wilk year: 02

Research Interests: gender, consumption, romance tourism, household economy, transnationalism, material culture, Honduras, Caribbean and Central America My current work focuses on the interpersonal and economic implications of transnationalism and tourism on island and household economies, family structure, and community on Roatan, the Bay Islands of Honduras. I am particularly interested in how gendered and cultural notions of desire, prosperity, and paradise are implicated in consumptive sexual exchanges between islanders, locals, and visitors.

Kellie Hogue email: KJHOGUE advisor: Sterling year: 05

Research Interests:

Zohra Ismail email: ZISMAIL advisor: Shahrani/Stoeltje year: 04

Research Interests:

Meredith Johnson email: MLJ1 advisor: Royce year: 03

Research Interests:

Lewis Jones email: LECJONES advisor: Wilk year: 07

Research Interests:

Hisato Kawata email: HKAWATA advisor: Greenhouse year: 94

Research Interests: 1) issue of ethnography - the gap between the thing itself and the thing expressed 2) issue of self and culture - interaction among one's self, one's acts (cultural engagement), work (cultural product such as artwork and ethnography) and cultural others (otherness inside as well as outside one's own self) I have been working on my dissertation - ethnography of artists' endeavour to make art, seeing the artwork as well as ethnography as a culturally constructive form of communication (not a form of representation), one's engagement into which can entail de-and-re-construction of one's self and culture from inside.

Matthew Kerchner email: MKERCHNE advisor: Stoeltje year: 03

Research Interests:

Ryan Kiley email: RKILEY advisor: Royce year: 02

Research Interests:

Arwen Kimmell email: AKIMMELL advisor: Stoeltje year: 04

Research Interests: language, gender, law, power, dispute settlement, Ghana, queen mothers, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, literature I plan to study how gender and power are expressed through language during dispute settlement in the Akan queen mother's courts.

Mary Kozub email: MKOZUB advisor: Phillips year: 05

Research Interests: disability in the US (autism), alternative medicine in the US

Erika Kuever email: EKUEVER advisor: Wilk year: 05

Research Interests: China, tourism, economy

Valerie Lambert email: VYLAMBER advisor: Royce year: 01

Research Interests:

John Lorinskas email: JOLORINS advisor: Royce/Shahrani year: 02

Research Interests:

Jacek Luminski email: JLUMINSK advisor: Royce year: 04

Research Interests:

Sarah Marion email: SAMARION advisor: Friedman/Wilk/Stoeltje year: 05

Research Interests: Economic and visual anthropology, media and mass media, consumption, gender, celebrity and fame, and cultural production in North America My dissertation project will (hopefully) be on the production, circulation, and value of photographic images of celebrities and take place in Los Angeles.

Angela Martin email: ANGMARTI advisor: Clark year: 02

Research Interests: economic anthropology, gender, household dynamics, agriculture, long-term implications of resettlement; Zambia, central and eastern Africa Building on the longitudinal Gwembe Tonga Research Project (GTRP) in Southern Province, Zambia, my dissertation will examine how household dynamics are changing in a frontier region. Tonga migrants are experiencing new methods of land distribution, which in turn is motivating a shift in land use patterns within households. I will be looking at the formation of intra-household cooperative behavior among women in the Kafue Plateau area.

Timothy McCollum email: TMCCOLLU advisor: DeMallie/Parks year: 01

Research Interests:

Ben Michaels email: BMICHAEL advisor: Stoeltje year: 05

Research Interests:

Lauren Miller email: LEM2 advisor: Royce year: 04

Research Interests: My interests lie in the fields of performance and identity. I am currently studying capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art, and Candomble a religion with which capoeria has longstanding ties. Of particular interest to me is the manner in which American capoeiristas make pilgrimages to Brazil to study with Brazilian instructors and thus authenticate themselves as practitioners of capoeira.

Alfredo Minetti email: AMINETTI advisor: Royce year: 98

Research Interests: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, music, choro, identity, globalization, performance, history and philosophy of science, history of ideas, material culture, and ethnography In my dissertation I address three main topics: Social Aesthetics, Group Creativity, and Collective Emotion. I believe that very few things are more revealing about us than the way we handle and express our emotions, our creativity, and our ‘culturally patterned sensory experiences.’ I am interested in what brings people together as social and cultural beings; what stirs up our emotions, and how we share these with others; which mechanisms regulate social cohesion through collective emotion; and what are their implications on the ways we chose to behave, socialize, and relate to others; what it means to be creative and how it works in collective situations; whether the experience of beauty in the arts is or is not the most responsible for our happiness, as some have suggested; how we operate according to the aesthetical principles we articulate as social individuals; how we develop our tastes and what these can tell us about the way we approach the world; how we create mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion based on our aesthetical principles; how we operate according to ‘culturally patterned sensory experiences’ that we, anthropologists, call social aesthetics. In this work I attempt to devise a paradigm that articulates those three spheres with the purpose of making it possible for a better understanding of group based performativity.

Kevin Meskill email: KMESKIL advisor: Shahrani year: 93

Research Interests:

Wilhelm Meya email: WMEYA advisor: DeMallie year: 00

Research Interests:

Bryn Neuenschwander email: BNEUENSC advisor: Wilk year: 02

Research Interests: American culture, fan communities, Internet-based research, group identification, narrative, modern fantastic literature and its relationship to folklore

Dawn Parks email: DLPARKS advisor: Royce year: 92

Research Interests:

Rodrigo Pedrosa email: RPEDROSA advisor: Brondizio year: 05

Research Interests: human ecology, environmental issues My research interests are ecological anthropology, human ecology, human- forest interactions, as well as cultural resource management, cultural changes, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), people and parks, cultural diversity and biological diversity interactions. In addition, I am also concerned with social-environmental strategies focused on the rural poverty banishment. My PhD research aims to combine the methods and theories from both the natural and social sciences to address the human ecology of Quilombolas' communities (Slaves descendants), who inhabit my geographical area of interest, that is the Atlantic Coastal Forest of Brazil, mainly in Rio de Janeiro. BS in Biology, MS in Environmental Science and Forestry, Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Katherine Petrie email: KAPETRIE advisor: Shahrani year: 95

Research Interests:

Abby Pickens email: ALPICKEN advisor: Phillips year: 04

Research Interests:

Rebecca Plummer email: RLPLUMME advisor: DeMallie year: 04

Research Interests:

David Posthumus email: DPOSTHUM advisor: DeMallie year: 07

Research Interests:

Sarah Quick email: SAQUICK advisor: Royce year: 98

Research Interests: Métis studies, native peoples of North America, identity and representation, heritage production, media consumption, gender studies, music, dance and ethnographic film My dissertion focuses on Métis heritage, through identity issues and heritage performances. My field research was primarily in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada although I attended heritage performance events/sites in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and Montana. In the future, I would like to do more comparative analysis between US Métis and Canadian Métis heritage performances and bureaucratic support.

Ann Reed email: AMREED advisor: Clark year: 97

Research Interests: heritage tourism, memory, identity and representation, economic anthropology, Ghana, African diaspora, gender, ethnographic film My research centers on the development of slavery-heritage/roots tourism in Ghana that seeks to attract primarily African Americans, which involves the sometimes competing interests of economic return and promotion of shared African identity. In my dissertation, I detail how Cape Coast and Elmina castles as well as PANAFEST and Emancipation Day festivals serve as markers of memory and identity in representing the slave trade and redemption, while articulating what this means for tourists of various ethnic backgrounds, African Americans resident in Ghana, Ghanaian stakeholders, and ordinary residents of Cape Coast. 'Death, Disaster, and the Macabre'-Discover more about the 'darker side of tourism' by visiting the Dark Tourism Forum at www.dark-tourism.org.uk

Susie Reynolds email: CWESBROO advisor: Royce year: 95

Research Interests:

Rebecca Riall email: RLRIALL advisor: Thomas year: 03

Research Interests:

Gillian Richard-Greaves email: GIRICHAR advisor: Royce year: 05

Research Interests: performance, identity

Clark Sage email: CSAGE advisor: DeMallie year: 07

Research Interests:

Joel Schudlich email: JSCHUDLI advisor: DeMallie/Parks year: 00

Research Interests:

Wendell Schwab email: WSCHWAB advisor: Shahrani year: 05

Research Interests: Central Asia, Islams

Polly Spiegel email: PSPIEGEL advisor: Parnell year: 99

Research Interests:

Brooke Swafford email: PSWAFFOR advisor: Phillips year: 05

Research Interests: Aga Buryats, shamanism and neo-shamanism, Russian and Central Asian Studies, gender, ethnographic film, Russian independent media, nomadic pastoralism, folklore

Hallie Stone email: HSTONE advisor: Royce year: 92

Research Interests:

Carol Sullivan email: CSUBINO advisor: Royce year: 02

Research Interests: anthropology of dance, performance, artists as activists, transnational identities, migration, African diaspora, Latinos, Latin America and the Caribbean, Veracruz and Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

Joseph Stahlman email: JSTAHLMA advisor: Thomas year: 05

Research Interests: indigenous rights, film, Latin America, development

Virginia Visconti email: VVISCONT advisor: Wilk/Clark year: 97

Research Interests:

Noémie Waldhubel email: NWALDHUB advisor: DeMallie year: 05

Research Interests: indigenous education/meaningful curriculum (identity/language/culture) My main research interests lie within American Indian education. I am specifically interested in culturally appropriate education as a key factor toward the empowerment of the individual learner. Furthermore, my research focuses on parent’s and teacher’s perspective on literacy and schooling and their support in the child’s education.

Katherine Wiley email: KATWILEY advisor: Clark year: 07

Research Interests:

Teresa Winstead email: TWINSTEA advisor: Levinson/Thomas year: 02

Research Interests: legal anthropology, multi-sited ethnographic research, Navajo schools and schooling, Federal Indian law, ethnography of policy, native peoples of North America, and action, applied, and participatory research methods I'm interested in the way in which federal policies of "self-determination" (and at the same time accountability and punitive action and loss of control of "failing schools") for tribally-controlled schools on the Navajo reservation operate in the school community environment. My research will likely involve asking questions like: In what way does (or doesn't) the inherent power of the law shape community and personal narratives about local control, autonomy, and sovereignty in a school community?

back to top