Regional Expertise
There are 47 appointed Graduate faculty located at all three University of Toronto campuses. There are also 14 Professors Emeriti, 18 Status Appointments, Visiting and Cross Appointments, and 9 St. George Undergraduate Instructors. For more information on our faculty, please see the People section.
Research Regions
North America
At the St. George campus, professors Gary Coupland and Max Friesen conduct archaeological research on the Northwest Coast and the Arctic, respectively. Hilary Cunningham's studies such social movements such as the Sanctuary Movement on the U.S.-Mexican border. Bonnie McElhinny's work in sociolinguistics, language and gender has included research on US police and their interactions with the public, and of Filipino domestics in North America. Ivan Kalmar conducts research on popular culture and semiotics. Susan Pfeiffer's work includes research on the health and nutrition of prehistoric peoples in northeastern North America and Valentina Napolitano studies anthropology of gendered subject formation and the transcultural politics of health movements (especially the anthropology of complementary medicine) in Mexico and with Mexican transnational migrants.
Archaeologists David Smith and Gary Crawford (both UTM) conduct research on prehistoric and early historic peoples of Ontario.
Africa
On the St. George campus, Richard Lee and Michael Levin conduct social-cultural research in southern and western Africa, respectively. Susan Pfeiffer conducts research on paleoanthropology in southern Africa, while Shawn Lehman conducts primate research on Madagascar. Janice Boddy studies gender, symbolism and cultural meaning, religion and women's culture in East Africa, and especially Arabic-speaking Sudan. Dan Sellen researches infant nutrition and health in East Africa (he also works in Asia.)
At UTSC, Michael Lambek's holds a Canada Research Chair in the Anthropology of Ethical Life; his research focuses on interpretative anthropology, personhood and subjectivity, ritual and religion in Africa and the Islamic World, especially Comores and Madagascar. (He also works in Europe). Girish Daswani studies spirit mediums and African traditional religion in Ghana.
At UTM, Todd Sanders' research focuses on knowledge and espistemology, witchcraft and globalization in East Africa.
Asia
Both Ted Banning and Michael Chazan at the St. George campus conduct archaeological fieldwork on the prehistory of Southwest Asia. Tania Li (St. G.) holds a Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy and Culture of the Asia-Pacific. She works mainly in Indonesia on agrarian transformations, resource conflict, community, indigeneity, and development. Hy V. Luong's research focuses on the interplay of political economy, social structure, ideology, and discourse in Vietnam. Joshua Barker has studied police forces in Indonesia and discourse networks and telecommunications in Java and Shiho Satsuka studies capitalism in Japan. Naisargi Dave has conducted fieldwork with queer organizations in New Delhi, India and focuses on gender and sexuality, social justice and transnational activism, while Bonnie McElhinney has conducted socio-cultural and linguistic anthropological research in the Philippines. Dan Sellen does medical anthropological research in Bangladesh.
At UTM, Heather Miller specializes in prehistoric and historic complex societies, ancient technology, social organization, and agriculture in South Asia. Gary Crawford conducts research on the beginnings of agriculture in East Asia and Francis Cody is a social cultural anthropologist who focuses on Tamilnadu, southern India.
Europe
Gavin Smith at the St. George campus studies regional underdevelopment, with focus on informal and shadow economies, cultural production, and political movements in Western Europe. David Begun conducts paleoanthropological research on Meiocene primates in Hungary and Turkey. Michael Chazan works on Palaeolithic archaeology in France. Ivan Kalmar conducts research on popular culture, semiotics, and orientalism in Europe. Valentina Napolitano focuses on Latino transnational migration in Italy and Marcel Danesi is an expert in linguistic anthropology, semiotics and youth culture in Italy and France.
Larry Sawchuk at UTSC studies health and disease in urban populations, especially Gibraltar, through historical demography, and Michael Lambek has begun ethographic fieldwork on alternate healthcare in Switzerland. At UTM, Andrea Muehlebach studies governance and discourse in Europe.
South America and the Caribbean
Gavin Smith at the St. George campus studies regional underdevelopment, focusing on informal and shadow economies, cultural production, and political movements in Peru and Bolivia. Shawn Lehman studies primates in the northern part of South America and Edward Swenson is an archaeologist studying complex societies in the Andes and Latin America. Valentina Napolitano has conducted fieldwork on health in urban Mexico.
At UTM, Jack Sidnell focuses on linguistic anthropology of creoles in the Caribbean while Esteban Parra, a molecular anthropologist, is interested in the application of genetic markers and adaptation to high altitude in the Andean region. He has investigated extensively the admixture process, the process of mixing of human populations, that took place in the Americas since the XVth century.
Australia and New Guinea
David Turner at the St. George Campus studies healing and music among indigenous people in Australia, and their relations with the State. Holly Wardlow conducts research in medical anthropology, feminist anthropology, international health, reproductive health, gender and violence in Papua New Guinea. Sandra Bamford at UTSC studies gender, kinship, ritual embodiment, and enviornmentalism in New Guinea.
