Paulla Ebron
Associate Professor of Anthropology
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
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Associate Professor, Anthropology
Administrative Appointments
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Research Fellow, Clayman Institute, Stanford University (2015 - 2016)
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Affiliated Faculty, Stanford Archaeology Center (2010 - Present)
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Research Fellow, Clayman Institute, Stanford University (2008 - 2009)
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School of Social Science Member, Institute for Advanced Study. Princeton (2004 - 2005)
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Associate Professor, Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University (2003 - Present)
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John Hope Franklin Fellow, National Humanities Center (2000 - 2001)
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National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, National Humanities Center (2000 - 2001)
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Fellow, Stanford Humanities Center (1997 - 1998)
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Zora Neale Hurston Fellow, Institute for the Advanced Study and Research in the African Humanities, Northwestern University (1996 - 1996)
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Fellow, Center for Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz (1995 - 1996)
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Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation (1995 - 1996)
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Research Associate, Five College Women’s Studies Center, Mt. Holyoke College, Autumn (1994 - 1994)
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Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University (1992 - 2003)
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Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, Northwestern University, Institute for the Advanced Study and Research in African Humanities (1991 - 1992)
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Fellowship, Roothbert Fund (1988 - 1990)
Honors & Awards
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Scholar in Residence, Reed College (1990-1991)
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Marilyn Yalom Research Award, Stanford university (1995)
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OTL Award, Stanford University (2000-2001)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Reviewer, National Academy of Sciences (Ford Foundation) (2007 - 2011)
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Reviewer, National Humanities Center (2007 - 2007)
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Reviewer, National Humanities Center (2009 - 2009)
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Reviewer, National Humanities Center (2010 - 2010)
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Member, American Academy in Berlin
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Promotion Evaluator, University of Chicago
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Promotion Evaluator, Duke University
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Promotion Evaluator, University of California, Santa Cruz
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Peer Reviewer, African Studies Review
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Peer Reviewer, American Anthropologist
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Peer Reviewer, American Ethnologist
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Peer Reviewer, Anthropological Quarterly
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Peer Reviewer, Journal Cultural Anthropology
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Peer Reviewer, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
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Peer Reviewer, Journal of European Studies Signs
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Peer Reviewer, Blackwell Publishers
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Peer Reviewer, Duke University Press
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Peer Reviewer, University of Illinois Press
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Peer Reviewer, University of Minnesota
Program Affiliations
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Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
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Modern Thought and Literature
Professional Education
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Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Anthropology (1993)
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M.A., University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1987)
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B.A., University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1984)
2024-25 Courses
- Postfield Research Seminar
ANTHRO 94 (Aut) - Sense of Place
ANTHRO 39 (Win) - Urban Ecologies
ANTHRO 372 (Aut) -
Independent Studies (17)
- Directed Individual Reading in Anthropology
ANTHRO 454 (Aut, Win) - Directed Individual Study
ANTHRO 96 (Aut, Win) - Directed Individual Study for Anthropologists
ANTHRO 451 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Graduate Independent Study
MTL 398 (Win, Spr) - Graduate Internship
ANTHRO 452 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Graduate Teaching
ANTHRO 440 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Independent Study for Honors or Senior Paper Writing
ANTHRO 95B (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Internship in Anthropology
ANTHRO 97 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Master's Project
ANTHRO 441 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Qualifying Exam Preparation in Anthropology
ANTHRO 455 (Aut, Win) - Qualifying Examination: Area
ANTHRO 401B (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Qualifying Examination: Topic
ANTHRO 401A (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Qualifying Paper
MTL 390 (Win, Spr) - Reading for Orals
MTL 399 (Win, Spr) - Research Apprenticeship
ANTHRO 450 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Research in Anthropology
ANTHRO 95 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Senior Honors Thesis
URBANST 199 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Directed Individual Reading in Anthropology
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Prior Year Courses
2023-24 Courses
- Examining Ethnographies
ANTHRO 110B, ANTHRO 210B (Win) - Landscape
ANTHRO 353 (Win) - Postfield Research Seminar
ANTHRO 94 (Aut) - Reading Theory Through Ethnography
ANTHRO 300 (Spr)
2021-22 Courses
- Culture as Commodity
ANTHRO 343 (Aut) - Examining Ethnographies
ANTHRO 110B, ANTHRO 210B (Aut) - Landscape
ANTHRO 353 (Spr) - Reading Group
ANTHRO 442 (Aut, Win) - Theory of Cultural and Social Anthropology
ANTHRO 90B (Win) - Watching Theory, Reading Television: examining critical themes in contemporary televised media
ANTHRO 12SI (Spr)
- Examining Ethnographies
Stanford Advisees
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Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Ronald Chen, Alisha Cherian -
Orals Chair
Emily Wang -
Doctoral Dissertation Advisor (AC)
Ben Baker, Elix Colón, Emilia Groupp, Jaime Landinez Aceros, Kristin McFadden, Jameelah Morris, Teal Nguot, Shan Yang -
Master's Program Advisor
Emilia Groupp -
Doctoral (Program)
Ben Baker, Elix Colón, Emilia Groupp, Jaime Landinez Aceros, Kristin McFadden, Jameelah Morris, Teal Nguot, Maggie Zhang Grobowski
All Publications
- Feminism and the Anthropocene: Assessing the Field through Recent Books Feminist Studies 2017; 43 (3): 658-683
- “Writing and Rhythm.” Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute 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 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 edited by Cole, C., Manuh, T., Miescher, S. F. Indiana University Press. 2007: 171–190
- Contingent Stories: Anthropology, Race, and Feminism Feminist Anthropology edited by Lewin, E. Blackwell Publishing. 2006
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The political life of nature
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
2005; 107 (2): 264-267
View details for Web of Science ID 000229557500008
- Continental Riffs: Encounters with Mande Music Black Cultural Traffic edited by Elam, H., Jackson, K. University of Michigan Press. 2005
- Continental Riffs: Encounters with Mande Music African Identities 2004; 2 (2): 133-149
- Performing Africa Princeton University Press. 2002
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Rumba on the River: a history of the popular music of the two Congos (Book Review)
JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES
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 edited by McClaurin, I. Rutgers. 2001: 211–232
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Mestizo logics: Anthropology of identity in Africa and elsewhere. (Book Review)
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
2000; 102 (1): 178-179
View details for Web of Science ID 000171635900028
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Tourists as pilgrims: commercial fashioning of transatlantic politics
AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST
1999; 26 (4): 910-932
View details for Web of Science ID 000086365100006
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Hair raising: Beauty, culture, and African American women. (Book Review)
SIGNS
1999; 24 (2): 545-547
View details for Web of Science ID 000079298000043
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Enchanted memories of regional difference in African American culture
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
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 edited by Grosz-Ngate, M., Kokole, O. Routledge. 1996: 223–244
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BLACK NOISE - RAP MUSIC AND BLACK-CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA - ROSE,T (Book Review)
CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY-A JOURNAL OF REVIEWS
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 1995; 4 (2): 125-151
- In Dialogue: Reading Across Minority Discourses Women Writing Culture edited by Behar, R., Gordon, D. University of California Press. 1995: 390–411
- Rapping Between Men: Performing Gender Radical America Spring 1991; 23 (4): 23-27
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THE WOMAN IN THE BODY - A CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF REPRODUCTION - MARTIN,E (Book Review)
AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST
1988; 15 (1): 168-169
View details for Web of Science ID A1988M238300011