Annals: Departmental reports and staff listings
University of Bristol
Department of Archaeology & Anthropology, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8
T: 0117 954 6050 W: www.bristol.ac.uk
The Department of Archaeology and Anthropology forms, as from 2006, part of the School of Arts within the Arts Faculty. At present, we teach anthropology at Masters and PhD level, as well as running a popular undergraduate single honours degree in Archaeology and Anthropology. A related degree in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (run in conjunction with the Science Faculty) has also been offered by the Department since 2008.
Staff
This year, Dr Fiona Bowie becomes an honorary Research Fellow at Bristol; Dr Dimitrios Theodossopoulos has moved to a new position at the University of Kent; Dr David Shankland has taken up post (as from 1st October 2010) as Director of the Royal Anthropological Institute, though he remains a member of staff at Bristol. Two appointments in Social Anthropology are advertised as of summer 2010.
Anthropology in a wider sense continues to be represented by Mhairi Gibson and Kate Robson-Brown who teach biological anthropology, Jo Zilh who teaches early humankind, and Nick Saunders who teaches material culture. The department will operate in future on approximately 12 permanent lecturers, representing a combination of Archaeology, Social and Biological Anthropology.
We continue to benefit greatly from part-time teaching from Michaela Benson, Rohit Barot, Judith Okely, Isabel de Salis and Emily Warmsley. Anthropologists at Bristol but not actually based in our department include Helen Lambert, Rachael Gooberman-Hill, and Katharine Charsley. We are pleased too to welcome Michaela Benson to the University as a full-time researcher in the School for Policy Studies.
Research
Africa, Latin America, south-east Europe, and the ethnography of the Islamic world are gradually emerging as regional specialisations in social anthropology, together with a focus on current changes within the discipline, and links with Archaeology. Having hosted the ASA conference at Bristol in 2009, we are this year preparing to welcome TAG, during which the dialogue between Anthropology and Archaeology will continue.
Teaching
Our single honours Archaeology and Anthropology degree forms the main undergraduate component of our teaching, with an MA in Social Anthropology and research supervision for PhDs the postgraduate.
Staff
Rohit Barot (PhD, London); Migration, South-East Asia, Religion.
Michaela Benson (PhD, Hull; Post-doc Researcher, SPS) Migration, Trans-nationalism, Europe, France, Latin America.
Fiona Bowie (DPhil, Oxford) Anthropology of religion, adoption, kinship and ethnography; sub-Saharan Africa.
Katharine Charsley (PhD, Edinburgh; Lecturer in Sociology) marriage, migration, south-east Asia, Pakistan)
Isobel de Salis (MD, PhD, Edinburgh; Research Associate, Department of Social Medicine) Anthropology of Religion, Africa, Anthropology of Medicine
Rachael Gooberman-Hill (PhD, Edinburgh; Research Fellow) Medical anthropology, pain, ageing, UK, kinship, work, mobility, health services, applied anthropology
Helen Lambert (DPhil, Oxford; Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology) Medical anthropology, perceptions of illness and health-seeking behaviour, lay perceptions of risk; South Asia
David Shankland (PhD, Cambridge; Reader in Social Anthropology and Head of Anthropology) Islam, religion, history of social anthropology, interface between archaeology and anthropology; Turkey and south-east Europe (Director RAI from October 2010).
Dimitrios Theodossopoulos (PhD, London; Senior Lecturer in Anthropology) Environmental anthropology, stereotypes and ethnicity, culture and performance; south-east Europe, Latin America. (University of Kent: as from academic year 2010/11).
Vieda Skultans (PhD, Wales; Professor Emeritus of Social Anthropology), Medical anthropology, narrative theory, social memory; Latvia, ex-Soviet Union, India.