Wanni Anderson
Adjunct Professor of Anthropology (research) & Visiting professor of American Studies:
Anthropology
Phone: +1 401 863 7060
Phone 2: +1 401 863 3251
Wanni_Anderson@Brown.EDU
Ph.D., U. Pennsylvania, 1973
Brown University Research Profile Page for Wanni Anderson
Professor Anderson has research interests in comparative human development; folklore; self and identity; new ethnic group formation; refugees; diaspora and displacement; multiraciality; new Asian Americans; Asian ethnonationalism; Southeast Asia; Arctic; and Asian America.
Interests
My current research is on a new Southeast Asian-American ethnic group, the Thai Americans. It is a comparative study of the American-born group living in America and the Thailand-born group living in Bangkok ,Thailand, as biracial Americans of Thai and American parents. Another area of research is an extension of my earlier study of the Thai Muslims in southwestern Thailand, where moderate Islam is practiced. Its goal is to locate their Muslim-ness within diverse global Islamic religious practices, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Southeast Asia and their current position in Thai national politics. The book, "At the Crossroads: Thai Muslims of the Andaman Coast", has been accepted for publication by Silkworn Books, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Teaching
AN25, ET26 "Growing Up Ethnic and Multicultural". This course explores the complex issues of growing up as an ethnic, bicultural, or a multicultural person and how these dual or multiple identities affect or interact with individual behavior, priorities, the sense of self, and how individual identity is formulated and defined. Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approaches combining anthropology, comparative human development, interethnic communication, life history, and literary works are used
AN125, ET121 "The American Experience: The Southeast Asian Refugees/Americans" This course explores the diaspora of the Cambodian, the Hmong, the Lao, and the Vietnamese American from their initial exodus from their war-torn countries to their strategies for reconstructing new lives. Topics include socioeconomic changes, changing family life, gender roles, life choices, and the growing American generation. Materials used include films, songs, and autobiographies written by the refugees/Americans themselves.
AN120, EA0019 "Ethnonationalism: The Asian Areana". Three Asian countries--China, Thailand, and Myanmar--are unique national arenas to examine and compare specific definitions, representations, and contentions among nationalistic discourse, ethnic legitimization, and ethnonationalism as they are played out in response to cultural politics, national ideology, European colonial expansion, religious identity, and ethnic identity. Nationalistic movements, ethnic nationalism, and transnational politics are explored.
AN122, ET122 "Ethnic American Folklore: Continuity and the Creative Process". This course investigates the dynamics of cultural continuity and the creative process involved in ethnic American folklore from oral narratives, life history, to foodways, sports and songs. How do these cultural forms intersect with ethnicity, gender, group activism, and transnational contacts and exchanges? What are the new cultural forms, communication milieus, and venues negotiated or contested in contemporary America?
Curriculum Vitae
