1
E. PAUL DURRENBERGER
Curriculum Vitae
May, 2008
Address: Department Anthropology
The PennsylvaniaStateUniversity
409 Carpenter Building
University Park, PA16802-3404
Phone: 814-863-2694
Fax: 814-863-1474
E-mail:
Position: Professor of Anthropology, PennsylvaniaStateUniversity
EDUCATION
Undergraduate work at TexasA&MUniversity from September 1961 to June 1962.
B.A. in Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin, December 1964.
M.A. in Anthropology, WashingtonStateUniversity, June 1966. Thesis title: The Evolution of Japanese Social Organization from the Introduction of Rice to the Gempei Wars.
Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana, October 1971. Dissertation Title: The Ethnography of Lisu Curing.
EMPLOYMENT
September 1962 - January 1965 Various laboratory, research, and field jobs in archaeology in Texas (Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory, TexasMemorialMuseum), South Dakota (Smithsonian Institution River Basin Project), and WashingtonState (WashingtonStateUniversity).
January 1965 - January 1966 Teaching Assistant, WashingtonStateUniversity.
February 1966 - June 1966 Instructor of Anthropology, Eastern New MexicoUniversity.
September 1968 - August 1970 Research Associate, University of Illinois.
July 1971 - June 1972 Assistant Professor, AntiochCollege.
September 1972 - April 1976 Assistant Professor, University of Iowa
Summer 1977 Consultant to the Social Science Research Centre, University of Chiangmai, Chiangmai, Thailand. To establish a research program on the economics of the Northern Highlands. Funded by a Ford Foundation grant to the Centre.
May 1976 - May 1982 Associate Professor, University of Iowa
May 1982 – August 1987, Professor, University of Iowa
Sept 1987 - August 1989 Visiting Professor. University of SouthAlabama.
August 1995-December 1995 Acting Department Executive Officer, Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa.
Jan 1996 - August 1997 Department Executive Officer, Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa.
August 1997- Professor. PennsylvaniaStateUniversity
GRANTS
November 1968 - September 1970 Walter Reed Institute grant for ethnographic fieldwork among Lisu in Northern Thailand.
September 1976 - August 1977 Ford Foundation Grant for fieldwork among Shan in Northern Thailand.
April 1978 Midwestern Universities Consortium on International Activities grant for a seminar on rural economic systems in Thailand.
Summer 1981 Sigma Xi Society for Scientific Research Grant in aid of research in Iceland.
Summer 1986 American Scandinavian Foundation Thor Thors Grant for ethnographic fieldwork in Iceland.
Summer 1987 National Endowment For the Humanities grant for a conference, "The Anthropology of Iceland."
Summer 1987 Fulbright Foundation grant for a conference, "The Anthropology of Iceland."
Summer 1987 National Science Foundation Grant for a conference, "The Anthropology of Iceland."
Spring, 1988 (with Steve Thomas and Lee Maril) Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs grant for fisheries research in Coastal Alabama.
Spring 1988 (with Lee Maril and Steve Thomas) A conference entitled, "Marine Resource Utilization: A Conference on Social Science Issues," funded by grants from the Mississippi/Alabama Sea Grant program and the Coastal Research and Development Institute, Mobile, Alabama 4 through 6 May, 1988.
September 1988 - May 1989 NSF Grant No. R 11-896152.Policy Formulation, Implementation and Practice in the Coastal Alabama Fishing System.
Summer 1993 (with Gísli Pálsson) Fulbright Foundation grant for a workshop on ethnography in Iceland.
Summer 1993 NSF grant for workshop on ethnography of modern Iceland.
1995 (with Kendall Thu) Networking Among Independent Swine Producers: Opportunities and Barriers for the Viability of Iowa Farms. Grant from LeopoldCenter for Sustainable Agriculture.
1996 Grant for the study of Service Employees International Union Local 73.
2002 National Science Foundation grant for research on centralized vs. decentralized labor union locals in the U.S.
2007 National Science Foundation grant (with Doug Bolender, John Steinberg and Brian Daimiata) for archaeological research in Iceland. 3 years.
OTHER AWARDS
June 1966 - May 1967 University of Illinois, Anthropology Fellow.
June 1967 - May 1968 University of Illinois, NDFL Title VI Fellow.
September 1970 - May 1971 University of Illinois, Thesis Fellow.
Summer 1976 University of Iowa Summer Fellowship for research in Thailand.
Summer 1978 University of Iowa Summer Fellowship for research in Thailand.
Fall 1979 University of Iowa Faculty Development Leave.
December 1980 Midwestern Universities Consortium on International Affairs travel grant to investigate cooperative research programs with ChiangmaiUniversity.
Summer 1981 University of Iowa Summer Fellowship for research in Iceland.
Summer 1983 Midwestern Universities Consortium on International Activities travel grant to investigate an exchange program with the University of Iceland.
Fall 1984 Fulbright Professorship, University of Iceland.
Spring 1985 University of Iowa Faculty Development Leave for research in Iceland.
Summer 1985 University of Iowa Summer Fellowship for research in Iceland.
Fall 1988 University of Iowa travel grant to Iceland.
Summer, 1989 University of Iowa Summer Fellowship for ethnographic fieldwork in Mississippi.
1990 Undergraduate Faculty Scholar Research Assistantship for research on medieval Iceland.
Summer 1990 Invited to participate in National Science Foundation Institute on Methodology. University of Florida.
Summer 1990 (with Jonathan Wilcox) University of IowaUniversity House Interdisciplinary Research Grant, "Laughing Matters: A Study of Humor in Old Icelandic Literature."
Fall 1990 University of Iowa Faculty Development Leave, "An Analysis of the Culture of Commonwealth Iceland."
1990-91(With Jonathan Wilcox) University of Iowa Interdisciplinary Research Assistantship for research on medieval Iceland.
Summer 1991 University of Iowa summer fellowship.
Summer 1991 Invited to participate in the seminar on economy, values, and culture. Institute for the Study of Economic Culture, BostonUniversity.
Summer 1992 University of Iowa-University of Iceland Exchange Program travel grant.
Summer 1993 (with Gísli Pálsson) Grants from the Universities of Iceland and Iowa for a workshop on ethnography in Iceland.
Summer 1993 Invited to participate in the NSF institute on Cross-Cultural Research.
1993-94 Undergraduate Faculty Scholar Research Assistantship for research on agricultural policy in Iowa and the U.S.
Summer 1994 University of Iowa-University of Iceland Exchange program travel grant for travel to Iceland.
1994 Iowa Secondary Student Training Program. Research Assistantship.
1994-5 Undergraduate Faculty Scholar Research Assistantship for research on agricultural policy in Iowa and the U.S.
PROFESSIONAL AND HONORARY SOCIETIES AND OFFICES
Phi Kappa Phi (Honorary)
American Anthropological Association Fellow.
- Executive Board 1994-1996.
- Public Policy Committee 1999-2001
- Media committee 1997-present.
- LongRange Planning Committee 2004-
American Ethnological Association
Council on Thai Studies (Executive Committee, 1974-1985, President, 1978-1980)
Central States Anthropological Society (Executive Board 1997- )
Second Vice President-2000-2001. President 2001-2004.
Association of Iowa Archaeologists (Founding member and fellow until 1983)
Society for Economic Anthropology (Founding member, organizing committee, Executive Board, 1982-1985); president elect 1994. President 1995-1996.
Society for the Anthropology of Europe. Editorial Board.
Society for Humanistic Anthropology
Board of Editors, Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 1979-1989.
Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
Association for Asian Studies
Culture and Agriculture Group, American Anthropological Association, President Elect 1993. President 1994-1996.
Society for Applied Anthropology. Fellow. Public Policy Committee 1997-present; co-chair 1999-
EDITORIAL BOARDS
Maritime Anthropological Studies
Journal of Anthropological Research
Journal of Political Ecology
Society for Economic Anthropology
Journal of the Anthropology of Work
Culture and Agriculture
AWARDS
1993Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award for teaching and scholarship.
University of Iowa.
1999Robert McC. Netting Prize of the Political Ecology Society for the article in Political
Ecology judged to best advance research in that field.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Modern and Commonwealth (9th - 13th centuries) Iceland, highland and valley groups of Mainland Southeast Asia, agricultural policy in the mid-western United States, Icelandic populations in North Dakota, U.S. Gulf of Mexico fisheries and fishing policy, practices and consequences of industrial swine production, global systems and processes and local effects, alternative forms of agriculture and sustainable agriculture. Labor unions.
Noncapitalist and capitalist economic systems, stateless societies, states, cognitive anthropology, symbolism, religion, the relationships among political and economic forms and ideological and cognitive systems, economic anthropology, law, political anthropology, maritime anthropology, historical processes, applied anthropology.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor, Eastern New MexicoUniversity
Introduction to Anthropology
Ethnography of Oceania
Ethnography of Africa
Ethnography of Eurasia
Assistant Professor, AntiochCollege
Introduction to Anthropology
Language and Culture
Ethnography of Mainland Southeast Asia
Anthropology of Religion
Assistant & Associate Professor, Professor, University of Iowa
Anthropology of Religion
Cognitive Anthropology
Ethnology of Southeast Asia
Introduction to the Study of Culture and Society
Seminar on Ethics in Anthropology
Seminar on Analogies
Marx in Anthropology
Structuralism and Symbolism
Anthropological Theory
Economic Anthropology
The Anthropological Analysis of Household Economies
The Anthropology of the Icelandic Sagas (Anthropology and Literature)
The Construction of Ethnographic Data (Methodology).
Seminar on Socio-cultural Anthropology
Maritime Anthropology
Professor, PennState
Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology
Seminar on the History of Anthropological Theory
Maritime Anthropology
Comparative Social Organization-writing intensive
Anthropology of Religion
Ethnography of the United States
Global Processes and Local Systems
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Summer 1967 Fieldwork on agriculture among the Shan of Maehongson Province, Thailand. Funded by a grant from the University of Illinois Department of Anthropology
November 1968 - September 1970 Fieldwork among the Lisu of Northern Thailand, especially Chiangmai Province (Sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, funded by Walter Reed Institute Contract No. DADA-17-69-V-9026. Project entitled, "A Socio-Medical Study of the Lisu of Northern Thailand.")
Summer 1973 Field Supervisor at the Cherokee Sewer Site Excavations, Cherokee, Iowa. Project Director, R. Shutler, Jr.
May 1976 - August 1977 Fieldwork among Shan of Maehongson Province, Thailand. Project entitled, "A Socio-Economic Study of a ShanVillage in Maehongson Province, Thailand," Funded by Ford Foundation and University of Iowa fellowships. A study of peasant farming and economics.
Summer 1981 Research on fishing in Iceland. Funded by a University of Iowa summer fellowship and a grant in aid of research from Sigma Xi, the Society for Scientific Research.
Fall 1985 Research on Commonwealth Iceland and modern fishing in Iceland, funded by a Faculty Development Leave from the University of Iowa
Summer 1985 Fieldwork on agriculture in Iceland. Funded by a University of Iowa summer fellowship.
Summer 1986 Fieldwork on agriculture and ethnic identity in Iceland. American Scandinavian Foundation grant.
l987-1988 Research on fishing industry in Alabama. Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs grant.
1988-1989 Research of fishing industry in Alabama and Mississippi. National Science Foundation Grant.
Summer 1989 Research on fishing industry in Mississippi. University of Iowa summer fellowship.
Summer 1990 Interdisciplinary research on medieval Icelandic literature with Jonathan Wilcox.
From Summer 1993-1997 Research on industrial swine production in the U.S.
From Fall 1995-present Research on labor unions in the U.S.
Fall 2000-Research on alternative forms of agriculture and sustainable agriculture in the U.S.
Summer 2002—archaeological research in Iceland.
Summer 2005—archaeological research in Iceland.
Summer 2007—archaeological research in Iceland
PUBLICATIONS
Journal Articles
1965 Anderson's Mill: A Historic Site in TravisCounty, Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society 36:1-71.
1971 Rats, Cats, and Abandoned Fields: Shan Supernaturalism. Texas Journal of Folklore Annual.
1974 The Regional Context of the Economy of a LisuVillage in Northern Thailand. Southeast Asia 3:569-575.
1975 The Lisu Concept of the Soul. Journal of the Siam Society 63:63-71.
Understanding a Misunderstanding: Thai-Lisu relations in Northern Thailand. Anthropological Quarterly 48:106-120.
Lisu Occult Roles. Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde 131:138-205.
A Soul's Journey. Asian Folklore Studies 34:35-50.
Lisu Shamans and Some General Questions. Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society 7:1-20.
1976 Lisu Curing: a Case History. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 50:356-371.
A Program for Computing Sahlins's Social Profile of Domestic Production and Related Statistics. Behavior Science Research 11:19-23.
The Economy of a LisuVillage. American Ethnologist 3:633-644.
Law and Authority in a LisuVillage: Two Cases. Journal of Anthropological Research 32:301-325.
A Lisu Shamanistic Seance. Journal of the Siam Society 64:151-160.
(with John Morrison) Analogies and the Split Brain. Current Anthropology 17:506-508.
1977 Lisu Etiological Categories. Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde 113:90-99.
Of Lisu Dogs and Lisu Spirits. Folklore (London) 88:61-63.
(with John Morrison) A Theory of Analogy. Journal of Anthropological Research 33:372-387.
1978 An Interpretation of a Lisu Tale. Folklore (London) 89:94-103.
1979 An Analysis of Shan Household Production Decisions. Journal of Anthropological Research 35:447-458.
(with Nicola Tannenbaum) A Reassessment of Chayanov and his Recent Critics. Peasant Studies 8:48-63.
Rice Production in a LisuVillage. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 10:139-145.
Misfortune and Therapy Among the Lisu of Northern Thailand. Anthropological Quarterly 52:447-458.
1980 Belief and the Logic of Lisu Spirits. Bijdragen tot de taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde 136:21-40.
Annual non-Buddhist Religious Observances of Maehongson Shan. Journal of the Siam Society 68:48-56.
Chayanov's Economic Analysis in Anthropology. Journal of Anthropological Research 36:133-148.
1981 The Economy of a ShanVillage. Ethnos 46:64-79.
Opium Production and Policy in Thailand and Burma. CERES: FAO Review on Agriculture and Development (Rome, United Nations) 14: 48-49.
The Southeast Asian Context of Theravada Buddhism. Anthropology 5:45-62.
1982 (with Nicola Tannenbaum) Una reconsideracio de Chayanov i dels seus critics recents. Estudis d'Historia Agraria 3:7-21. (translation of A reassessment of Chayanov and His Recent Critics).
Shan Kho: The Essence of Misfortune. Anthropos 77:16-26.
Chayanov and Marx. Peasant Studies 9:119-129.
(with Gísli Pálsson) To Dream of Fish: the Causes of Icelandic Skippers' Fishing Success. Journal of Anthropological Research 38:227-242. (Reprinted in ManfraediIslands (Anthropology of Iceland), Gísli Pálsson, editor).
(with Gísli Pálsson) Policy, Processors, and Boats: Fishing in Modern Iceland. Central Issues in Anthropology 4:31-48.
Reciprocity in Gautrek's Saga: an Anthropological Analysis. Northern Studies 19:23-37. (Reprinted in ManfraediIslands (Anthropology of Iceland), Gísli Pálsson, editor).
An Analysis of Lisu Symbolism, Economics, and Cognition. Pacific Viewpoint 23:127-145.
1983 (with Gísli Pálsson) Icelandic Foremen and Skippers: the Structure and Evolution of a Folk Model. American Ethnologist 10:511-528.
(with Gísli Pálsson) Riddles of Herring and Rhetorics of Success. Journal of Anthropological Research 39:323-335.
(with Nicola Tannenbaum) Diachronic Analysis of Shan Cropping Systems. Ethnos 48:177-194.
The Shan Rocket Festival: Buddhist and non-Buddhist Aspects of Religion. Journal of the Siam Society 71:63-74.
1984Icelandic Saga Heroes: the Anthropology of Existentialists. Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly 9:3-8.
1985 Sagas, Totems, and History. Samelagstidindi 5:51-80. (Reprinted in ManfraediIslands (Anthropology of Iceland), Gísli Pálsson, editor).
(with Gísli Pálsson) Peasants, Entrepreneurs, and Companies: The Evolution of Icelandic Fishing. Ethnos 50:103-122.
1986 The Cultural-Historical Background to the Middlewestern Farm Crisis. Culture and Agriculture 28:15-17.
(with Gísli Pálsson) Finding Fish: The Tactics of Icelandic Skippers. American Ethnologist 13:213-229.
(with Dorothy Durrenberger) Translating Gunnlaug's Saga: An Anthropological Approach to Literary Style and Cultural Structures. Translation Review 21-22:11-20.
1987(with Bob Quinlan) The Structure of the Prose Edda. Scandinavian Yearbook of Folklore. Vol 41:65-76.
(with Gísli Pálsson) Ownership at Sea: FishingTerritories and Access to Sea Resources. American Ethnologist 14:508-522.
Reflections on the Absolute. Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly 12: 38-41.
1988 (With Gísli Pálsson) Anthropology and Fisheries Management. American Ethnologist 15:530-534.
Shrimpers and Turtles on the GulfCoast: The Formation of Fisheries Policy in the United States. Maritime Anthropological Studies 1:196-214.
Stratification Without a State: The Collapse of the IcelandicCommonwealth. Ethnos 53:239-265.
(with Dorothy Durrenberger and Astradur Eysteinsson) Economic Representation and Narrative Structure in Haensa-Thoris Saga. Saga-Book 22:143-164.
(with Nicola Tannenbaum) Control, Change, and Suffering: The Messages of Shan Buddhist Sermons. Mankind 18 (3):121-132.
Chiefly Consumption in Commonwealth Iceland. Northern Studies 25:108-120.
1989 (with Gísli Pálsson) Icelanders and West Icelanders in the Modern Age. The World & I. Vol 4 No. 3 March, 1989:660-667.
(with Nicola Tannenbaum) Continuities of Highland and Lowland Religions of Thailand. Journal of the Siam Society 77 (part 1) 83-90.
1990 (with Gísli Pálsson) Systems of Production and Social Discourse: The Skipper Effect Revisited. American Anthropologist 92(1):130-141.
Policy, Power, and Science: The Implementation of Turtle Excluder Device Regulations in the U.S.Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Fishery. Maritime Anthropological Studies 3 (1):69-86.
A FishingTown Survives: Biloxi, Mississippi, Faces Challenges Other Than the Physical Perils of Fishing. The World & I. July 1990:626-635.
Text and Transactions in Commonwealth Iceland. Ethnos 55:74-91.
1991Sitting Buddha in a Mississippi Golf Course: The Construction of Anthropology in Exotic and Familiar Contexts. Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly 16 (3):88-94.
Production in Medieval Iceland. The Norse of the North Atlantic. Acta Archaeologica vol 61, pp 14-21.
1992 (with Nicola Tannenbaum) Household Economy, Political Economy, and Ideology: Peasants and the State in Southeast Asia. American Anthropologist. 94 (1): 74-89.
Icelandic Sagas: A Window on a Medieval World. The World & I. April, 1992: 624-637.
Psychology, Unions, and The Law: Folk Models and the History of Shrimpers Unions in Mississippi. Human Organization 51:151-154
(with Gísli Pálsson) Rhetorics of Skill and Skillful Rhetorics. American Anthropologist 92 (2):452-454.
Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland. Ethnos. 57 (1-2):31-49.
(With Gísli Pálsson) Icelandic Dialogues: Individual Differences in Indigenous Discourse. Journal of Anthropological Research 48 (4):301-316.
1993The Skipper Effect and Folk Models of the Skipper Effect Among Mississippi Shrimpers. Human Organization 52 (2):194-202.
Working Efra Sel: Change on a Family Farm in Iceland. The World & I July 1993: 256-265.
1994 The History of Shrimpers' Unions in Mississippi, 1915-1955. Labor's Heritage. Vol 5 (3):66-76.
Shrimpers, Processors, and Common Property in Mississippi. Human Organization. 53 (1):74-82.
(with Kendall Thu) North Carolina's Hog Industry: The Rest of the Story. Culture and Agriculture 49 (Spring 1994):21-23.
(with Kendall Thu) Our Changing Swine Industry and Signals of Discontent. Iowa Groundwater Quarterly. 5 (4):5-7.
(with Kendall Thu) Industrial Agricultural Development: An Anthropological Review of Iowa's Swine Industry." National Association of Rural Mental Health 1:38-48.
1995Mississippi Unions Again: Facts, Figures, and Misrepresentations. Human Organization 54 (4):474-477.
(with Kendall Thu) The Subjective Versus Objective Myth: Verbal Reports and Physical Data in Swine Odor Research. Proceedings of the International Livestock Odor Conference 1995. Ames, Iowa: IowaStateUniversity.
1996 (with Kendall Thu) The Industrialization of Swine Production in the U.S.: An Overview. Culture and Agriculture 18 (1):19-22.
(with Kendall Thu) The Expansion of Large Scale Hog Farming in Iowa: The Applicability of Goldschmidt's Findings Fifty Years Later. Human Organization. 55 (4):409-415.
1997 (with Suzan Erem) Getting a Raise: Organizing Workers in an Industrializing Hospital. Journal of Anthropological Research 53(1):31-46.
Fisheries Management Models: Assumptions and Realities Or, Why Shrimpers in Mississippi are Not Firms. Human Organization. 56(2):158-166.
(with Suzan Erem) The Dance of Power: Ritual and Agency among Unionized American Health Care Workers. American Anthropologist 99 (3):489-495.Reprinted in Academic Reading: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines 2nd Edition. pgs 413-428. Janet Giltrow, Editor. 2002. Broadview.
That'll Teach You: Cognition and Practice in a Union Local. Human Organization. 56(4):388-392.
(With Suzan Erem) The Way I see It: Perspectives on the Labor Movement from the People in it. Anthropology and Humanism. 22(2):159-169.
(with Kendall Thu) Signals, Systems, and Environment in Industrial Food Systems. Journal of Political Ecology 4:27-38.
1998Cultural Anthropology in a Nutshell. Teaching Anthropology. Spring-Summer 1998 12-14.
A Shower of Rain: Marshall Sahlins’s Stone Age Economics 25 Years Later. Culture and Agriculture 20 (2/3):102-106.
1999(with Delamie Thompson, Ann Smith, and Terry Hallom) Power, Rhetoric, and Partnership: Primary Health Care and Pie in the Sky. Human Organization. 58 (1):94-104.
(with Nicola Tannenbaum) Three Decades of Change: The Shan Villages of Northwestern Thailand. The World & I. April, 1999:192-201.