Core Faculty

Core faculty

Keitlyn Alcantara

Keitlyn Alcantara

Assistant Professor, Anthropology

  • kalcant@iu.edu
  • Arch Annex

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Mesoamerica, Latinx Diaspora in the U.S.

Research Interests
Food sovereignty, Decolonial Anthropology, Community-based research, Bioarchaeology, Late Postclassic Mexico, Colonial Mexico, Foodways

Susan Alt

Susan Alt

Professor, Anthropology

Director, Archaeology of the Eastern Woodlands

Director, Native American and Indigenous Studies

Geographical Areas of Specialization
North America; Midwest; Southeastern U.S.; Mississippi Valley

Research Interests
complexity; identity; migration; materiality; ritual; craft production; ceramics; GIS

Fumi Arakawa

Fumi Arakawa

Associate Professor, Anthropology

  • farakawa@iu.edu
  • Student Building Room 160 / IUMAA 137

Geographical Areas of Specialization
North America; American Southwest; JapanResearch Interests
Prehistoric American Southwest, Lithic Technological Organization, Pottery Analysis, Sociopolitical Organization in Small-scale Agricultural Societies, Multi-vocal Studies (Collections-based Research and Collaborations), Animacy in Archaeological Research, Eastern and Western Thoughts in Anthropology

Eduardo S. Brondizio

Eduardo S. Brondizio

Elected Member: National Academies of Science

Distinguished Professor, Anthropology

Adjunct Professor, Department of Geography and School of Public and Environmental Affairs

Director, Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes (CASEL)

Faculty Associate: Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Individualized Major Program, Native Studies Program, Food Studies Program

External Professor: University of Campinas, Center for Environmental Studies and Research (NEPAM), Brazil

Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). Class III-Social Sciences, Section 5 Anthropology and Archaeology

Elected [International] Associate Member, Academie d'Agriculture de France (AAF), sect 10: Economie et politique

Co-Editor-in-Chief, Global Environmental Change: Human and Policy Dimensions, Elsevier

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Amazon; Brazil; Latin America

Research Interests
environmental and economic anthropology; land use and landscape history; institutions and collective action; household economy and demographics; livelihoods and poverty; local ecological knowledge; people-forest interaction; social-ecological complex systems analysis; global environmental and climate change; sustainability sciences; integrative methodologies

Beth Buggenhagen

Beth Buggenhagen

Associate Professor, Anthropology

Associate Editor, Africa Today

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Africa; North America; Senegal

Research Interests
circulation and value; material and visual culture; photography; gender and Islam

Erica Cartmill

Erica Cartmill

Professor, Anthropology, Cognitive Science, CISAB

  • Student Building 238

Geographical Areas of Specialization
United States, Europe
Research Interests
Evolution of language and social cognition, Gesture, Primate communication, Parent-infant interaction, Language and thought, Assessing cognition in AI systems, Multimodality, SETI

Christina Collins

Christina Collins

Assistant Professor, Anthropology

  • collinct@iu.edu
  • Student Building 164

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Ethiopia; Sub-Sahara Africa

Research Interests
anthropology and business; industry and industrialization in emerging markets; national economy; alcohol production, distribution, and consumption; science and technology studies (STS); anthropology of development

Jennifer Cullin

Jennifer Cullin

Lecturer, Anthropology

  • jcullin@iu.edu
  • Sycamore Hall 044

Geographical Areas of Specialization
United StatesResearch Interests
Stigma, health disparities, obesity, psychosocial stress, embodiment, biological normalcy, allostatic load, biocultural anthropology, human biology, global health, public health

Sara Friedman

Sara Friedman

Professor, Anthropology

Professor, Gender Studies

Affiliate Faculty, East Asian Languages and Cultures

Director of Graduate Studies, Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization
China; Taiwan 

Research Interests
state, citizenship, and law; migration; intimacy; marriage; gender and sexuality; LGBT families; reproductive politics; kinship and parenting

Brian Joseph Gilley

Brian Joseph Gilley

Professor, Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Contemporary and historic Italy; Native North America

Research Interests
contemporary and historic Italy; native North America

Jane Goodman

Jane Goodman

Professor, Anthropology

Director of Undergraduate Studies, Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization
North Africa; Middle East; France

Research Interests
performance and civic life; intertextuality; colonial and postcolonial formations; theater, music, and poetry

Kathryn E. Graber

Kathryn E. Graber

Associate Professor, Anthropology

Associate Professor, Central Eurasian Studies

Director, Qualitative Data Analysis Laboratory

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Russia; Siberia; Mongolia

Research Interests
mass media; language politics; materiality; semiotics; digital media; multilingualism; language shift and endangerment; ethnography of institutions; historical anthropology; intellectual property; theories of value; socialism and post-socialism; race and ethnicity; Central/Inner Asia, Mongolia, Russia, Siberia

Shane Greene

Shane Greene

Professor, Anthropology

Adjunct Faculty, Department of Spanish & Portuguese

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Peru; Amazonia/Andes; elsewhere, although mostly Latin America

Research Interests
social theory; social movements; race; urban subcultures; music and society; indigenous and afro-descendent rights; political ecology

Elena Guzman

Elena Guzman

Assistant Professor, African American and African Diaspora Studies and Anthropology

  • elguzman@indiana.edu
  • Ballantine Hall 649

Research Interests
Black Borders and Borderlands, Black Ritual Performance, African Diaspora Spirituality and Religion, Feminist Filmmaking, Visual Anthropology, Sensory Ethnography, Documentary, Experimental Film, Critical Ethnography, Black Feminist Anthropology

Kevin D. Hunt

Kevin D. Hunt

Professor, Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Africa

Research Interests
functional morphology; ecology of hominids and apes

Jason Baird Jackson

Jason Baird Jackson

Ruth N. Halls Professor, Folklore and Anthropology

Research Interests
material culture; cultural performance; ethnology; cultural history; museum anthropology

Frederika Kaestle

Frederika Kaestle

Associate Professor, Anthropology

Director, Ancient DNA Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization:
Native America; Pacific; Asia

Research Interests
molecular anthropology; molecular evolution; population genetics; ancient DNA

Ryan Kennedy

Ryan Kennedy

Assistant Professor, Anthropology

  • jonrkenn@iu.edu
  • Student Building 028

Geographic Areas of Specialization
Western North America, Gulf of Mexico 

Research Interests
Zooarchaeology, Historical Archaeology, Fish and Fisheries, Animal Commodification and Trade, Chinese Diaspora, Migration, Archaeology of Food

Stacie M. King

Stacie M. King

Professor, Anthropology

Chair, Anthropology

Associate Faculty, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Mexico (Oaxaca); Mesoamerica

Research Interests
ancient and colonial Mexico; household archaeology; identity; food practices; soundscapes; social theory; colonialism; soil chemistry and microscale methods in archaeology

Sarah Osterhoudt

Sarah Osterhoudt

Associate Professor, Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Madagascar; Africa; Indian Ocean

Research Interests
environmental anthropology; agrarian studies; agro-ecological systems; political ecology; trade and development; anthropology of knowledge

Sarah Phillips

Sarah Phillips

Professor, Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Central and Eastern Europe; the Former Soviet Union, especially Ukraine and Russia.

Research Interests
postsocialist transformations; civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs); gender and women’s studies; medical anthropology; Chernobyl; disability studies; HIV and drug use; US-Soviet literary history and diplomacy; Kurt Vonnegut in the Soviet Union

Anne Pyburn

Anne Pyburn

Provost Professor, Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Mesoamerica; Belize; Central Asia; Kyrgyzstan

Research Interests
archaeology; settlement patterns; Maya, gender, ethics; archaeology and social context

Jennifer Meta Robinson

Jennifer Meta Robinson

Professor of Practice, Anthropology

Co-director, IU Graduate Certificate on College Pedagogy

Geographical Areas of Specialization: United States

Research Interests
Food in expressive culture; sustainable food systems; higher education pedagogy

Marvin D. Sterling

Marvin D. Sterling

Associate Professor, Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Japan; Caribbean

Research Interests
contemporary Japan; African Diaspora; race, social identity; afro-asia; performance studies; transnationalism; human rights

Daniel Suslak

Daniel Suslak

Associate Professor, Anthropology

Adjunct Professor, Latino Studies

Associate Faculty, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Director, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Mexico; Mesoamerica

Research Interests
linguistic anthropology; semiotic anthropology; verbal art; youth and adolescence; Mesoamerican languages and cultures

Michael Wasserman

Michael Wasserman

Associate Professor, Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization
Uganda; Costa Rica; Panama

Research Interests
primate ecology and evolution; environmental endocrinology; conservation biology and sustainability; evolutionary medicine and EcoHealth; nutritional anthropology

Andrea Wiley

Andrea Wiley

Professor, Anthropology

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Geographical Areas of Specialization
South Asia; particularly India

Research Interests
human diet and nutrition and the adaptive significance of human dietary behavior; medical anthropology; biocultural perspectives and theory; biological normalcy – how population biology and ideas about “normal” human biology are related; human adaptability, particularly to stressful environments such as high altitude; demography; life history theory