Chair Michael Peletz and Associate Chair Sally Gouzoules
Dr. Michael Peletz is Chair and Dr. Sarah Gouzoules serves as Associate Chair of the Department of Anthropology.
Dr. Peletz received his doctoral degree from the University of Michigan in 1983 and joined Emory in Fall 2006. His teaching and research interests focus on social and cultural theory, gender, sexuality, kinship, law, religion - especially Islam - social history, and modernity, particularly in Malaysia, Indonesia, and other parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim. Professor Peletz has done extensive fieldwork in Malaysia; his research and teaching interests have also taken him to Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, the Netherlands, and the UK. His most recent book, Gender Pluralism: Southeast Asia Since Early Modern Times was designated by the journal Choice as an “Outstanding Academic Title, 2009”. Professor Peletz spent the summer of 2009 as a Research Fellow at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden, and is working with colleagues in the Netherlands and elsewhere to develop a large-scale, multi-sited project on “‘Ordinary Muslims’ in Asia and the West”. Professor Peletz has taught courses at Emory on the history of anthropological theory; gender and sexuality; Southeast Asia; Muslim cultures and politics; and law, discipline, and disorder.
Dr. Gouzoules received her doctoral degree from the University of Chicago and joined the Anthropology department in the Fall of 2000. Her research and teaching interests center on the evolution of primate communication and social behavior. Her work has focused on the evolution of vocal communication systems in Old World monkeys and how these systems may inform our understanding of the evolution of human language. She has a long standing interest in kin selection theory, the evolution of social groups, and the behavior of, especially, macaque monkeys. Dr. Gouzoules teaches courses in both Anthropology and in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. She also serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Anthropology.