Brenda Chalfin, Ph.D.
Title : Associate Professor
Interests : Economic anthropology, political economy, state processes, globalization, Africa
Programs : Cultural Anthropology
Personal Statement
Brenda Chalfin earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. She specializes in Economic and Political Anthropology with an emphasis on Ghana and West Africa . Her book, Shea Butter Republic (Routledge 2004), examines the impact of neo-liberal policies and cosmopolitan consumption trends on rural women's livelihoods in northeast Ghana . Developing her interest in state processes, citizenship and bureaucratic reform, in 2000-2001 Dr. Chalfin conducted an ethnographic study of Customs officers in Ghana funded by NSF and Wenner-Gren Foundation. Now working from a supranational vantage-point, she continues to research global transformations in customs regulations and the impact on sovereignty within the late-modern state. In 2002-2003 Dr. Chalfin was a member of the School of Social Science at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton , NJ . She was awarded a 2005-2006 Fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC . Dr. Chalfin teaches courses on African Ethnography, Urban Africa, Political Economy, Economic Anthropology, the Anthropology of the State, and Political Anthropology.
Office
Grinter Hall, Room 451
PO 117305
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-7305
Phone Number : (352) 392-2427 x306
Email : bchalfin (@ufl.edu)
