FACULTY RESEARCH PROFILES

Dr. Blackwood’s research interests include the matrilineal Minangkabau of West Sumatra, Indonesia, the social and historical contexts of female same-sex relations and trans-identities in Indonesia, and gender, sexuality and identity more broadly. Her current research project focuses on tombois (masculine-identified females) and their girlfriends in West Sumatra. In addition to numerous articles and a book on the Minangkabau, Dr. Blackwood has coedited two award-winning anthologies Female Desires (1999) and Women’s Sexualities and Masculinities in a Globalizing Asia (2007).
 

Richard Blanton, Professor

Dr. Blanton's primary interests are pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, especially the evolution of complex societies in Central Mexico and the Valley of Oaxaca, and crosscultural comparative research. He has studied the economics of peasant households,the evolution of market systems in early civilizations, urban archaeology, pre-modern world-systems, cultural ecology and rational choice and collective action theory as they apply to pre-modern state formation. Currently he is co-director of an archaeological project in Tlaxcala, Mexico.

Andrew Buckser, Professor

Dr. Buckser is a cultural anthropologist who studies religion, ethnicity, and illness in modern societies. He has written extensively on religious change in Scandinavia, based on fieldwork in several locations in Denmark. His books include ethnographic studies of the Copenhagen Jewish community and rural  Protestant movements, as well as a collection on the anthropology of religious conversion. His

current research examines the cultural dimensions of the neurological disorder Tourette Syndrome, based on interviews and fieldwork among people with Tourette in Indiana.

Michele Buzon, Assistant Professor

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mbuzon/

Dr. Buzon is a bioarchaeologist whose research focuses on the excavation and analysis of burials in the ancient Nile Valley (Egypt and Nubia). Dr. Buzon has an active field site at Tombos, Sudan. Through the examination of human skeletal remains and mortuary practices, she examines the effects of Nubian-

Egyptian contact on identity and health during the New Kingdom and Napatan periods.

H. Kory Cooper, Assistant Professor

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~hkcooper/

Dr. Cooper is an archaeologist with two main foci, Hunter-Gatherers of northwestern North America and archaeometallurgy. His archaeometallurgical research has included the analysis of Roman-Byzantine material from Jordan and metalworking and shipwreck artifacts related to the Russian-American fur trade in Alaska. His recent and ongoing research employs an anthropology of technology approach in the investigation of the use of metals by Native people in northwestern North America.

Ellen Gruenbaum, Professor and Head

Dr. Gruenbaum is a cultural medical anthropologist with research on female genital cutting in Sudan and Sierra Leone, focused on the process of change to this culturally and religiously embedded practice, including the role of feminist activism, witchcraft and secret societies, and the Islamist movement. She is also interested in other women’s health issues in Africa and the Middle East, including sexuality and reproduction, HIV/ AIDS, and beauty pageants as a health education tool.

Brian Kelly, Assistant Professor

Dr. Kelly is a medical anthropologist whose research primarily focuses upon drug use, sexual health, and comparative youth cultures. The foci of his recent projects include continuing work on drug use among New York metropolitan area youth, drug dealing among suburban youth, and the social organization of local sexual cultures. His latest project explores the impact of the foreclosure crisis on neighborhood social capital and community cohesion.

Ian Lindsay, Assistant Professor

http://web.me.com/ian_lindsay/Purdue_site/Welcome.html

Dr. Lindsay has conducted research in northwestern Armenia since 2000 investigating the origins of political complexity, landscapes as media for political authority, and households and community formation in the Late Bronze Age. Analytical methods of interest include chemical characterization techniques to examine the flow of goods in and out of the Tsaghkahovit Plain, and he has recently initiated a geophysical survey of fortress settlements to gauge the intensity of occupation during the LBA.

Riall Nolan, Professor

Dr. Nolan has done research and published in several different areas, including the study of wage-labor migration in Senegal, West Africa, needs assessments and evaluations for a wide range of international development projects in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, policy analysis for the World Bank, an overview of regional planning in Western Siberia.  His most recent work was a study of effective leadership on US campuses for international programs.

Jay O’Brien, Lecturer

Dr. O’Brien’s research interests include agricultural labor and economic development in Sudan and the dynamics of ethnicity and power relations in Sudan and Botswana.  A current project on the legacy of British indirect rule and contemporary tribal politics in Botswana continues his interest in the intersection between historical and cultural analysis.  He is also interested in issues of ethnographic writing.

Melissa Remis, Professor

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~remis/Home

Dr. Remis' research in the Central African Republic focuses on the behavioral ecology of western gorillas, and integrated biological and cultural anthropological approaches to the human-animal dynamic, especially with regard to human impacts on mammals and conservation. She also conducts field and zoo research on the evolution of feeding strategies among the African apes, including experimental work on diet, digestion and behavioral, nutritional and physiological aspects of welfare among apes.

Kevin Vaughn, Associate Professor

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~kjvaughn/

Dr. Vaughn is an archaeologist whose active field and lab research focuses on the emergence of pre-state complexity, craft production, households, mining, and archaeometry in Nasca, Peru. His most recent project is focused on the anthropology of ancient mining communities in Peru.

Sharon Williams, Assistant Professor

Dr. Williams is a biological anthropologist who examines the intersection between behavior, ecology, biology and health. She is currently working to measure this interaction in older adults through projects in the United States (NSHAP) and across countries in the developing world with the World Health Organization (SAGE). She also maintains active field work in NE India and a working laboratory to develop new field-friendly methods of biological data collection and analysis.

Dr. Zanotti completed her Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 2008 and joined the Anthropology faculty in Fall of 2009.  She specializes in environmental anthropology, political ecology and ethnoecology.  Zanotti presently works with the Kayapó, a Brazilian indigenous group, on the issues of conservation, gendered uses of the landscape, and resistance strategies.

EMERITUS FACULTY

O. Michael Watson

Dr. Watson’s ethnographic research focuses on a small, isolated island in the Chesapeake Bay, where the local economy (oystering and crabbing) has been eroded in the past few decades due to the degradation of the Bay.  This has resulted in emigration from the island and the gradual disappearance of the unusual--perhaps unique--dialect of American English spoken by older generations of island residents. Although recently retired, Dr. Watson continues to teach in the Department.