Beth Ann Conklin
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Director of Undergraduate Studies

beth.a.conklin@vanderbilt.edu


Professor Conklin is a cultural and medical anthropologist specializing in the ethnology of indigenous peoples of lowland South America (Amazonia). Her research focuses on the anthropology of the body, religion and ritual, cannibalism, death and mourning, disease and healing, and indigenous identity politics. She teaches courses on cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, shamanism, international development, South American Indians, and the anthropology of contemporary issues. Her publications include Consuming Grief: Mortuary Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society, "Body Paint, Feathers, and VCRs: Aesthetics and Authenticity in Amazonian Activism," and (with Laura Graham) "The Shifting Middle Ground: Brazilian Indians and Eco-Politics."