Robert Albro
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Office: Knapton 216A
Phone: 508-286-3676
Fax: 508-286-3640
Email: ralbro@wheatoncollege.edu
Personal web page
Department(s) and Program(s)
Anthropology
Latin American Studies
Sociology
Degrees
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1999
M.A., University of Chicago, 1992
B.A., University of Chicago, 1989
Main Interests
Political anthropology; Bolivia; Andean ethnography; identity construction and self-representation; folkloric production and performance; theorizing populism in the context of Latin American neoliberal democratization; image-making, brokerage and cultural mediation; politics of development, the sociology of informal political organizations; language and culture; trope theory; the study of patronal fiestas in Latin America; national folklore traditions; lingustic anthropology; the life history approach in the social sciences; local and native intellectuals.
Research Interests
The transformation within regional political culture, in terms of key dimensions of experience such as: gender, religion, political economy, folkloric performance, identity politics, and their respective implications for local political leaders. An exploration of the challenges of "legitimation" facing a new generation of indigenous leaders in Bolivia, in a national context of political reform. An analysis of the categories of the "popular", as both a highly variable social sector, and as an increasingly potent national cultural category. Most generally, a concern with the ways that Latin America's "modernity" has actually worked to promote "traditional" cultural expression, rather than hastening its disappearance.
Teaching Interests
Latin American popular culture
Language and culture
Theories in political anthropology
Economic anthropology
Identity, folklore, and intellectuals
Ethnographic research methods
Introduction to cultural anthropology
Selected Publications, Creative Work or Performances
"Virtual Patriliny: Image Mutability and Populist Politics in Quillacollo, Bolivia. Political and Legal Anthropology Review Vol. 20 (1): 73-92 (1997).
"Introduction: A New Time and Place for Bolivian Popular Politics." Ethnology Vol. 37 (2): 99-115 (1998).
"Neoliberal Ritualists of Urkupina: Bedeviling Patrimonial Identity in a Bolivian Patronal Fiesta." Ethnology Vol. 37(2): 133-64 (1998).
co-authored with Anthony Berkley, "Anthro-signifying at the Millennium." Anthropological Quarterly Vol. 72 (1): 34-43 (1999).
"Cholaje y la cultural andina popular." To appear in Revista Andina (Cuzco) (1999).
"The Populist Chola: Cultural Mediation and the Political Imagination." To appear in the Journal of Latin American Anthropology (1999).
This page is maintained by Robert Albro. Last updated on 6/2/03.
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