Mentor Record

Deborah A. Elliston

Department of Anthropology
Binghamton University / SUNY
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000

<elliston@binghamton.edu>

Degrees Earned:
Degree
Discipline
School
Date
Ph.D Anthropology New York University 1997
MA Anthropology New York University 1992
BA Anthropology / Philosophy Macalester College 1986

Major Influences on Professional Life (Professors, Colleagues, Students):

Annette Weiner, Fred Myers, Faye Ginsburg, Lila Abu-Lughod, Evie Blackwood

Subfields of Interest within Anthropology:

(Sociocultural Anthropology) Difference and power; sexualities and trans/genders; nationalism, nationalist struggles, and colonialism; politics of representation; feminist anthropology; feminist ethnography; semiotic social theory; subjectivity and personhood; kinship studies; the politics of "place"; exchange theory; transnational processes of meaning production.

Regions of Specialization and Languages:

Oceania/Pacific, Melanesia and Polynesia, French Polynesia, Society Islands archipelago.

Major Publications:

2002: “Anthropology’s Queer Future.” In Out in Theory: The Emergence of Lesbian and Gay Anthropology, eds. Ellen Lewin and William Leap (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press), pp. 287–315.

2000: “Geographies of Gender and Politics: The Place of Difference in Polynesian Nationalism.” Cultural Anthropology 15(2):171–216.

1999: "Negotiating Transnational Sexual Economies: Female Mahu and Same-Sex Sexuality in 'Tahiti and her Islands'." In Female Desires: Same-Sex Relations and Transgender Practices Across Cultures, edited by Evelyn Blackwood and Saskia Wieringa (NY: Columbia University Press), pp. 230–250.

1997: En/Gendering Nationalism: Colonialism, Sex, and Independence in French Polynesia. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, New York University.

1995: "Erotic Anthropology: 'Ritualized Homosexuality' in Melanesia and Beyond." American Ethnologist 22(4):848–867.

1993: Review of Oceanic Homosexualities, ed. Stephen O. Murray. Journal of the History of Sexuality 4(2): 319–321.

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The Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists (SOLGA) of the American Anthropological Association was founded in 1988. SOLGA promotes communication, encourages research, develops teaching materials, and serves the interests of gay and lesbian anthropologists within the association.
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