Emory Anthropology

Bruce Knauft recipient of the 2026-2027 Heilbrun Distinguished Emeritus Fellowship

Heilbrun Fellowships are funded by a generous contribution from the family of Professor of Psychology Emeritus Alfred B. Heilbrun Jr. Open to emeriti faculty in the Arts and Sciences, these fellowships carry a stipend of $10,000 and provide an opportunity to continue research and scholarship in retirement.

Bruce Knauft recipient of the 2026-2027 Heilbrun Distinguished Emeritus Fellowship Heilbrun Fellowships are funded by a generous contribution from the family of Professor of Psychology Emeritus Alfred B. Heilbrun Jr. Open to emeriti faculty in the Arts and Sciences, these fellows…

How to Secure Philanthropic Funding in a Competitive Environment

A collaborative project of Kristin Phillips, Emory Anthropology, and Jola Ajibade, Emory Environmental Sciences, mentioned in recent Nature article as a great example of interdisciplinary research. “Bringing together researchers from different disciplines leads to much more interesting and innovative scholarship.” “Organizing around interdisciplinary problem spaces is one of the things foundations can often do better than can government funders whose funding structures are often set up along disciplinary lines.”

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Federico Sánchez Vargas wins AABA conference award

Anthropology graduate student Federico Sánchez Vargas has won the Outstanding Student Presentation Award for his poster on CapuchinAI at the 2026 American Association of Biological Anthropologist conference in Denver. The AABA has long recognized the important contributions made to our discipline by students. Their work reflects the promise and future of our field. This award recognizes the important contributions students make to the field and celebrates innovative, rigorous research by emerging scholars. Congratulations, Fede!

Federico Sánchez Vargas wins AABA conference award Anthropology graduate student Federico Sánchez Vargas has won the Outstanding Student Presentation Award for his poster on CapuchinAI at the 2026 American Association of Biological Anthropologist c…

$1 million Sloan grant funds deep look at data center boom in U.S. South

Emory faculty Kristin Phillips (left), associate professor of anthropology, and Jola Ajibade, associate professor of environmental sciences, are co-investigators on a three-year project to study the impact of the rapid growth of data centers. — Photos courtesy of Philips and Ajibade. The massive data centers needed to run AI systems are rapidly altering geographical landscapes and communities. That’s especially true in the U.S....

$1 million Sloan grant funds deep look at data center boom in U.S. South Emory faculty Kristin Phillips (left), associate professor of anthropology, and Jola Ajibade, associate professor of environmental sciences, are co-investigators on a three-year project to study th…

The University Research Committee (URC) has awarded the research team of Dr. David Civitello, Associate Professor of Biology (Principal Investigator) and Dr. Peter Little, Samuel C. Dobbs Professor of Anthropology (Co-Investigator), a $40,000 Interdisciplinary - URC-Halle Institute Global Research Award for their project Linking Movement Patterns of Ranging Livestock Herds in Mwanza, Tanzania to Transmission Potential of Human Schistosomes.

Dr. Peter Little Receives URC Award! The University Research Committee (URC) has awarded the research team of Dr. David Civitello, Associate Professor of Biology (Principal Investigator) and Dr. Peter Little, Samuel C. Dobbs Professor…

Emory University and Anthropology Alumni Daniel K. Thompson publishes book titled Smugglers, Speculators, and the City in the Ethiopia-Somalia Borderlands. Daniel graduated from Emory University with his PhD in 2019 and is now an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Merced. His research focused on exploring eastern African and US migration, border-making and urbanization shaped economic strategies for handling uncertainty....

Anthropology Alumni Daniel Thompson publishes book Smugglers, Speculators, and the City in the Ethiopia-Somalia Borderlands Emory University and Anthropology Alumni Daniel K. Thompson publishes book titled Smugglers, Speculators, and the City in the Ethiopia-Somalia Borderlands. Daniel graduated from Emory University wi…

Congratulations to our graduating students who received honors from their thesis. Read more about this year’s honors students and their projects on our 2025 Honors Students page. Honors Students Helen AndradeThesis Title: Cultural perceptions of Autism Among Hispanic YouthAdvisor: Dr. John Lindo Maya AsheThesis Title: I Am Smart, I am Kind...and I Am Black: Examining Black Motherhood in the 21st…...

Congratulations to our 2025 Honors Students! Congratulations to our graduating students who received honors from their thesis. Read more about this year’s honors students and their projects on our 2025 Honors Students page. Honors Students He…

Congratulations to our 2025 Student Award Winners! 2025 Anthropology Student AwardsThe Anthropology Department is pleased to announce our 2025 student award winners! Undergraduate awards are presented at our annual Honors and Awards Ceremony on Friday, April 25. We are so proud of our many impressive students. Please join us in congratulating them! Outstanding Senior Award: Peter Attarian, Grace Cayless, and Marian Moss…...

Congratulations to our 2025 Anthropology Student Award Winners! Congratulations to our 2025 Student Award Winners! 2025 Anthropology Student AwardsThe Anthropology Department is pleased to announce our 2025 student award winners! Undergraduate awards are prese…

Emory College students (left-to-right) Lydia King, David Lee, Elizabeth Martin and Lucas San Miguel have been selected to be Bobby Jones Scholars at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Read full article here. "Lydia King, A Dean’s Scholar and Oxford College graduate who grew up in Rwanda and Kenya, Lydia King first cultivated her college community at the Oxford Organic Farm....

Lydia King, Anthropology major, awarded the Robert T. Jones Scholarship Emory College students (left-to-right) Lydia King, David Lee, Elizabeth Martin and Lucas San Miguel have been selected to be Bobby Jones Scholars at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Read f…

Photo of Sasha by Peter Habib Anthropology graduate student Sasha Tycko was awarded the Krause Essay Prize from the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program for her essay, "Not One Tree". "Sasha Tycko is an anthropologist and artist working on a PhD at Emory University. Her research focuses on the Atlanta forest at the center of the conflict over “Cop City,” using a range of media to explore how the contested landscape motivates new articulations of history, nature, and ethics....

Congratulations to graduate student Sasha Tycko for her “Not One Tree” Photo of Sasha by Peter Habib Anthropology graduate student Sasha Tycko was awarded the Krause Essay Prize from the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program for her essay, “Not O…