Executive Director, (ICIS)
Institute of Critical International Studies
& S. C. Dobbs Professor of Anthropology
1627 North Decatur Road
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322; USA
Phone: 404-727-2736
Fax: 404-727-6724
Email: bruce.knauft@emory.edu
Professor Knauft's research combines politico-economic and cultural analysis across different world areas. He is particularly interested in issues of collective and individual subjectivity in relation to structures of social inequality and political domination or disempowerment, both historically and in the present. His current work includes consideration of comparative imperialism, neo-imperialism, and the contemporary cultural, political, and economic status of the U.S. vis-à-vis other nations and world areas. Dr. Knauft's publications have addressed issues of modernity and marginality, social and critical theory, politics and violence; and gender and sexuality.
Trained originally trained as a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Knauft conducted two years of doctoral research among the Gebusi, a remote rainforest people of Papua New Guinea with whom he still maintains contact. During his twenty-one years at Emory, he has developed comparative interests and mentored student research across a braod range of world areas, topics, and disciplinary perspectives. In addition to Melanesia, he also has scholarly interest in West Africa and South Asia as well as other world areas.
Dr. Knauft's seven books include The Gebusi: Lives Transformed in a Rainforest World (McGraw-Hill, 2005); Critically Modern: Alternatives, Alterities, Anthropologies (Edited, Indiana University Press, 2002); Exchanging the Past (University of Chicago Press, 2002); and Genealogies for the Present in Cultural Anthropology (Routledge Press, 1996).
As Executive Director of ICIS, Dr. Knauft plans, administers, budgets, and orchestrates features of critical international and comparative study in Emory College, including the international seminar, fellowship, visiting scholar, and conference series; the College's various world area studies programs; and international research and travel funding for faculty. He supervises the senior administrative staff of ICIS and the faculty directors of Emory's international programs. His primary office is located in the ICIS building at 1627 North Decatur Road, Atlanta.
(last updated August, 2008)