Bio

Paulla Ebron joined the department in 1992. Ebron is the author of Performing Africa, a work based on her research in The Gambia that traces the significance of West African praise-singers in transnational encounters. A second project focuses on tropicality and regionalism as it ties West Africa and the U.S. Georgia Sea Islands in a dialogue about landscape, memory and political uplift. This project is entitled, "Making Tropical Africa in the Georgia Sea Islands."

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Professor, Anthropology

Administrative Appointments

  • Research Fellow, Clayman Institute, Stanford University (2015 - 2016)
  • Affiliated Faculty, Stanford Archaeology Center (2010 - Present)
  • Research Fellow, Clayman Institute, Stanford University (2008 - 2009)
  • School of Social Science Member, Institute for Advanced Study. Princeton (2004 - 2005)
  • Associate Professor, Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University (2003 - Present)
  • John Hope Franklin Fellow, National Humanities Center (2000 - 2001)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, National Humanities Center (2000 - 2001)
  • Fellow, Stanford Humanities Center (1997 - 1998)
  • Zora Neale Hurston Fellow, Institute for the Advanced Study and Research in the African Humanities, Northwestern University (1996 - 1996)
  • Fellow, Center for Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz (1995 - 1996)
  • Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation (1995 - 1996)
  • Research Associate, Five College Women’s Studies Center, Mt. Holyoke College, Autumn (1994 - 1994)
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University (1992 - 2003)
  • Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, Northwestern University, Institute for the Advanced Study and Research in African Humanities (1991 - 1992)
  • Fellowship, Roothbert Fund (1988 - 1990)

Honors & Awards

  • Scholar in Residence, Reed College (1990-1991)
  • Marilyn Yalom Research Award, Stanford university (1995)
  • OTL Award, Stanford University (2000-2001)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

  • Reviewer, National Academy of Sciences (Ford Foundation) (2007 - 2011)
  • Reviewer, National Humanities Center (2007 - 2007)
  • Reviewer, National Humanities Center (2009 - 2009)
  • Reviewer, National Humanities Center (2010 - 2010)
  • Member, American Academy in Berlin
  • Promotion Evaluator, University of Chicago
  • Promotion Evaluator, Duke University
  • Promotion Evaluator, University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Peer Reviewer, African Studies Review
  • Peer Reviewer, American Anthropologist
  • Peer Reviewer, American Ethnologist
  • Peer Reviewer, Anthropological Quarterly
  • Peer Reviewer, Journal Cultural Anthropology
  • Peer Reviewer, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
  • Peer Reviewer, Journal of European Studies Signs
  • Peer Reviewer, Blackwell Publishers
  • Peer Reviewer, Duke University Press
  • Peer Reviewer, University of Illinois Press
  • Peer Reviewer, University of Minnesota

Program Affiliations

  • Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • Modern Thought and Literature

Professional Education

  • Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Anthropology (1993)
  • M.A., University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1987)
  • B.A., University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1984)

Links

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Feminism and the Anthropocene: Assessing the Field through Recent Books Feminist Studies Ebron, P. A., Tsing, A. L. 2017; 43 (3): 658-683
  • “Writing and Rhythm.” Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute Ebron, P. A., Tsing, A. L. 2015; 21 (3): 683-687
  • “Which Memory.” Transnational Memories of Slavery: Reimagining the Past, Changing the Future edited by Bordin, E. Cambria Press. 2015: 133–160
  • “Slavery and Transnational Memory: The Making of New Publics.” Transnational Memory. Circulation, Articulation, Scales edited by De Cesari, C. Walter de DeGruyter. 2014: pp. 147–168
  • Strike a Pose: Capitalism's Black Identity Recharting the Black Atlantic Ebron, P. A. edited by Oboe, A., Scacchi, A. Routledge Research in Atlantic Studies. 2008: 319–336
  • Constituting the Subject Through Performative Acts: The Making of West African Gendered Subjects Africa After Gender Ebron, P. A. edited by Cole, C., Manuh, T., Miescher, S. F. Indiana University Press. 2007: 171–190
  • Contingent Stories: Anthropology, Race, and Feminism Feminist Anthropology Ebron, P. A. edited by Lewin, E. Blackwell Publishing. 2006
  • The political life of nature AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST Ebron, P. A. 2005; 107 (2): 264-267

    View details for Web of Science ID 000229557500008

  • Continental Riffs: Encounters with Mande Music Black Cultural Traffic Ebron, P. A. edited by Elam, H., Jackson, K. University of Michigan Press. 2005
  • Continental Riffs: Encounters with Mande Music African Identities Ebron, P. A. 2004; 2 (2): 133-149
  • Performing Africa Ebron, P. A. Princeton University Press. 2002
  • Rumba on the River: a history of the popular music of the two Congos (Book Review) JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES Book Review Authored by: Ebron, P. A. 2001; 39 (4): 733-735

    View details for Web of Science ID 000177510000019

  • Contingent Stories: Anthropology, Race, and Feminism Black Feminist Anthropology: Theory, Praxis, Politics and Poetics Ebron, P. A. edited by McClaurin, I. Rutgers. 2001: 211–232
  • Mestizo logics: Anthropology of identity in Africa and elsewhere. (Book Review) AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST Book Review Authored by: Ebron, P. A. 2000; 102 (1): 178-179

    View details for Web of Science ID 000171635900028

  • Tourists as pilgrims: commercial fashioning of transatlantic politics AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST Ebron, P. A. 1999; 26 (4): 910-932

    View details for Web of Science ID 000086365100006

  • Hair raising: Beauty, culture, and African American women. (Book Review) SIGNS Book Review Authored by: Ebron, P. A. 1999; 24 (2): 545-547

    View details for Web of Science ID 000079298000043

  • Enchanted memories of regional difference in African American culture AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST Ebron, P. A. 1998; 100 (1): 94-?

    View details for Web of Science ID 000073160600009

  • Traffic in Men Gendered Encounters: Challenging Cultural Boundaries and Social Hierarchies in Africa Ebron, P. A. edited by Grosz-Ngate, M., Kokole, O. Routledge. 1996: 223–244
  • BLACK NOISE - RAP MUSIC AND BLACK-CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA - ROSE,T (Book Review) CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY-A JOURNAL OF REVIEWS Book Review Authored by: Ebron, P. A. 1995; 24 (3): 400-401

    View details for Web of Science ID A1995TC41900093

  • From Allegories of Identity to Sites of Dialogue Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies Ebron, P. A., Tsing, A. 1995; 4 (2): 125-151
  • In Dialogue: Reading Across Minority Discourses Women Writing Culture Ebron, P. A., Tsing, A. edited by Behar, R., Gordon, D. University of California Press. 1995: 390–411
  • Rapping Between Men: Performing Gender Radical America Spring Ebron, P. A. 1991; 23 (4): 23-27
  • THE WOMAN IN THE BODY - A CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF REPRODUCTION - MARTIN,E (Book Review) AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST Book Review Authored by: TSING, A. L., Ebron, P. A. 1988; 15 (1): 168-169

    View details for Web of Science ID A1988M238300011