Education

Indiana University (Bloomington): Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology (February 2004).

Indiana University (Bloomington): M.A. in Journalism, January 1998.

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). B.A. with Honors in English Literature, December 1985.

Consultancies

2000-Present: Consultant, TOTEM People’s Preservation Project (a Special Project of Cultural Survival, Inc.).

2002-present: Consultant, Altai-Sayan Language and Ethnography Project (under Volkswagen Stiftung’s Documentation of Endangered Languages Initiative – DoBeS).

2000-2002: Project Anthropologist, Altai-Sayan Language and Ethnography Project (see above).

Anthropology Courses Taught

Spring 2003 and Fall 1996: Associate Instructor, "Language and Culture." Indiana University Department of Anthropology.

2002, 1997-1998: Associate Instructor, "Culture and Society." Indiana University Department of Anthropology

Other Teaching Experience

1989-1992: English Teacher; Assistant Head of English Department, Darüssafaka Lisesi. Istanbul, Turkey.

1986-1988: English Teacher, Yemen-America Language Institute, Sana'a, Yemen. (U.S. Peace Corps)

Conference Presentations

Sept. 2002. “Who’s Indigenous Here Anyway? The Definition of Indigenous in the New Russia.” Paper delivered at the Ninth Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies (CHAGS9), Edinburgh, Scotland.

Aug. 2002. “Trust or Domination? The Tozhu-Tyva and the Tofa and Their Relationship to Reindeer.” Paper delivered at the workshop Collective and Multiple Forms of Property in Land and Animals, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany, 19-21.

Nov. 2001. “Mobility and the Maintenance of Language and Lifestyle Among the Tozhu-Tyva and Tofa Reindeer Herders.” Paper delivered as part of the panel session, The South-Siberian and Mongolian Reindeer Herding Complex: Endangered Lands, Languages, and Livelihoods in Comparative Perspective, at the American Anthropological Association’s Annual Meetings, Washington, D.C.

Nov. 2001. Organizer and Chair for panel session, The South-Siberian and Mongolian Reindeer Herding Complex: Endangered Lands, Languages, and Livelihoods in Comparative Perspective, at the American Anthropological Association’s Annual Meetings, Washington, D.C.

Feb. 2000. Conference co-organizer, Language and Cultural Preservation of the Tozhu-Tyvan People, Toora-Khem, Republic of Tyva.

Feb. 2000. “Protection of the Reindeer-Herding Culture as the First Step in Language Preservation.” Paper delivered (in Tyvan) at the conference Language and Cultural Preservation of the Tozhu-Tyvan People, Toora-Khem, Republic of Tyva.

May 1999. “Institutional Collapse and the Decline of Reindeer Herding in the Republic of Tyva.” Paper delivered at the Society for Human Ecology Tenth International Conference, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

April 1999. Conference co-organizer for the 8th Annual SOYUZ Conference, Peripheral Visions: Views from the Margins, Indiana University.

March 1999. “Institutional Change and Development: The Case of the Reindeer Herders of Tyva.” Paper delivered at the Sixth Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference, Indiana University.

April 1997. “The Next Chechnya? Shamanism and Nationalism in Tyva’s Quest for Sovereignty over Natural Resources.” Paper delivered at the Duke University Conference on Nationalism and Identity.

Feb. 1997. “The Role of Shamanism and Ecological Perceptions in Tyva’s Quest for National Sovereignty.” Paper delivered at the Fourth Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference, Indiana University.

Professional Associations

American Anthropological Association, Anthropology and the Environment Section

Society for Applied Anthropology

SOYUZ – The Research Network for Post-Socialist Cultural Studies

Language Skills

English (mother tongue); Tyvan (fluent); Russian (reading fluency); Turkish; Uzbek; Arabic; Spanish