Meet your conference organizers!
Left to Right: Carole, Alison, Drew, Kelly, and Sara
Carole McGranahan, Associate Professor
Carole is a cultural anthropologist and historian specializing in contemporary Tibet. Her research focuses on issues of colonialism and empire, history and memory, power and politics, refugees and citizenship, nationalism, senses of belonging, gender, war, and anthropology as theoretical storytelling. Since 1994, she has conducted research in Tibetan refugee communities in India and Nepal on the history and politics of the guerilla army Chushi Gangdrug, culminating in her book Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Histories of a Forgotten War (Duke University Press, 2010). Thinking of 20th-21st century Tibetan histories and experiences as imperial in a global sense is a key part of Carole’s work in relation to the CIA, British India, and the People’s Republic of China. Her work on Tibet as “out-of-bounds” empire can be found in Imperial Formations, an SAR volume she co-edited with Ann Stoler and Peter Perdue. Currently, Carole is working on two new projects: a Wenner-Gren funded project with John Collins on “Ethnographies of U.S. Empire,” and a new solo research project with Tibetans in India, Nepal, New York City, and Toronto titled “Refugee Citizenship: Tibetan Practices of Political Subjectivity in Diaspora.”
Alison Hanson, MA student
(BA in Business Economics, Minors in Anthropology and Global Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, 2009)
Alison is a cultural anthropologist specializing in India and feminist theory. Her research examines contemporary movements against sexual violence in Delhi, India. She is interested in exploring identity politics, inequalities, and transnational feminist solidarities within varied discourses of sexual violence and women's rights. Alison is spending three months over summer 2015 in Delhi and Jaipur for preliminary research and Hindi language studies. Her advisor is Carla Jones.
Kelly O’Toole, MA student
(BA Anthropology, BS Biology, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, 2014). Kelly’s focus is on the field of environmental anthropology, particularly land use and anthropogenic land cover change. Her current research investigates modern agricultural practices and perceptions of Maasai agro-pastoralists in northern Tanzania. Kelly will be traveling to Tanzania for five weeks during the summer of 2015 to conduct individual and group interviews to address her current research. Her advisor is Terrence McCabe.
Sara Stiehl, MA student
(BA in Anthropology, BA in Global Studies, Minor in Dance, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA, 2013)
Sara’s research focuses on narratives of identity and resistance in the Isan region of Thailand. Her work examines the relationships between communities, companies, and the state within neoliberal development projects such as large-scale dams and resource extraction. During the summer of 2015, Sara will be continuing research with NGOs of the Mekong River basin in addition to Thai language studies in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Burditt (Drew) Zachary, PhD Student
Carole is a cultural anthropologist and historian specializing in contemporary Tibet. Her research focuses on issues of colonialism and empire, history and memory, power and politics, refugees and citizenship, nationalism, senses of belonging, gender, war, and anthropology as theoretical storytelling. Since 1994, she has conducted research in Tibetan refugee communities in India and Nepal on the history and politics of the guerilla army Chushi Gangdrug, culminating in her book Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Histories of a Forgotten War (Duke University Press, 2010). Thinking of 20th-21st century Tibetan histories and experiences as imperial in a global sense is a key part of Carole’s work in relation to the CIA, British India, and the People’s Republic of China. Her work on Tibet as “out-of-bounds” empire can be found in Imperial Formations, an SAR volume she co-edited with Ann Stoler and Peter Perdue. Currently, Carole is working on two new projects: a Wenner-Gren funded project with John Collins on “Ethnographies of U.S. Empire,” and a new solo research project with Tibetans in India, Nepal, New York City, and Toronto titled “Refugee Citizenship: Tibetan Practices of Political Subjectivity in Diaspora.”
Alison Hanson, MA student
(BA in Business Economics, Minors in Anthropology and Global Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, 2009)
Alison is a cultural anthropologist specializing in India and feminist theory. Her research examines contemporary movements against sexual violence in Delhi, India. She is interested in exploring identity politics, inequalities, and transnational feminist solidarities within varied discourses of sexual violence and women's rights. Alison is spending three months over summer 2015 in Delhi and Jaipur for preliminary research and Hindi language studies. Her advisor is Carla Jones.
Kelly O’Toole, MA student
(BA Anthropology, BS Biology, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, 2014). Kelly’s focus is on the field of environmental anthropology, particularly land use and anthropogenic land cover change. Her current research investigates modern agricultural practices and perceptions of Maasai agro-pastoralists in northern Tanzania. Kelly will be traveling to Tanzania for five weeks during the summer of 2015 to conduct individual and group interviews to address her current research. Her advisor is Terrence McCabe.
Sara Stiehl, MA student
(BA in Anthropology, BA in Global Studies, Minor in Dance, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA, 2013)
Sara’s research focuses on narratives of identity and resistance in the Isan region of Thailand. Her work examines the relationships between communities, companies, and the state within neoliberal development projects such as large-scale dams and resource extraction. During the summer of 2015, Sara will be continuing research with NGOs of the Mekong River basin in addition to Thai language studies in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Burditt (Drew) Zachary, PhD Student