Curriculum Vitae for Dr. Janice Harper

EDUCATION

Ph.D.    Anthropology, Michigan State University    1999
M.A.     Anthropology, Western Washington University 1990
B.S.       Sociology, University of Oregon    1981

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Organizational Cultures; Institutional Analyses; Social Impact Analyses; Warfare and Structural Violence; Workplace Aggression; Medical Anthropology; Environmental Anthropology; Women and International Development; Human Rights; Social Justice

CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
Self-employed writer
2009-present

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

University of Tennessee
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
2004 – 2009

University of Houston
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
2000 – 2004

BOOKS

2002    Endangered Species: Health, Illness and Death Among Madagascar’s People of the Forest, Durham: Carolina Academic Press.

1995    The Women and International Development Annual, Vol. IV, Edited by Rita S. Gallin, Anne Ferguson, and Janice Harper.  Boulder: Westview Press.

1993    The Women and International Development Annual, Vol. III, Edited by Rita S. Gallin, Anne Ferguson, and Janice Harper.  Boulder: Westview Press.

PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES

2008  “The Environment of Environmentalism: Turning the Ethnographic Lens on a Conservation Project,” Invited Submission to Greening the Great Red Island: Madagascar in Nature and Culture, Edited by Jeffrey Kaufmann, Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa.

2007  “Secrets Revealed, Revelations Concealed: A Secret City Confronts its Environmental Legacy of Weapons Production,” Anthropological Quarterly 80:1:39-64.

2005  “Another Roadside Attraction: Preserving the Cultural Heritage of Oak Ridge, Tennessee,” invited submission to Anthropology in Action: Journal of Policy and Practice 12(3):34-53.

2005   “The Not-So-Rosy Periwinkle: Political Dimensions of Medicinal Plant Research,” Invited submission to Ethnobotany Research and Applications 3(4):295-308.

2004    “Breathless in Houston: A Political Ecology of Health Approach to Understanding Environmental Health Concerns,” Medical Anthropology, 23:295-326.

2004    “Malagasy,” in Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology: Health and Illness in the World’s Cultures, Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember, Editors. Pp. 794-804.  New York: Kluwer Academic Press (invited submission).

2003    “Memories of Ancestry in the Forests of Madagascar,” in Landscape, Memory, and History: Anthropological Perspectives, Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern, Editors.  London: Pluto Press (invited submission).

1995    “Coalitions and Practices: Imagining Communities,” (with Anne Ferguson and Rita Gallin).  In The Women and International Development Annual, Vol. IV, Edited by Rita S. Gallin, Anne Ferguson, and Janice Harper.  Boulder: Westview Press.

NON-PEER REVIEWED

2001  “A Preliminary Ethnographic Study of Asthma Among School-Aged Children in Houston, Texas,” Janice Harper, Tracy Smith, Karen Plessinger, Tom McKinney, Anna Pokluda, and Nicolas Somoana.  Environmental Policy Issues, Environmental Institute of Houston.

1995   “Ethnomedicine, Ethnobotany, Indigenous Knowledge, and Business Rights in Madagascar,” with Sabrina Hardenbergh, Linda Sussman, and Dai Peters.  In Environmental Change in Madagascar, Bruce D. Patterson, Steven M. Goodman, and Jodi L. Sedlock, Editors.  Chicago: The Field Museum.

1994   “Deforestation and Indigenous Medicines in Madagascar: Class and Gender Implications,” The CASID Connection, Center for Advanced Study of International Development, 9:3:2-7.

BOOK REVIEWS

2004    “Gods and Ancestors: Society and Religion Among the Forest Tribes of Madagascar,” by Jørgen Ruud.  Portland, OR: International Specialized Book Services, 2002.  Reviewed in Journal of Anthropological Research 60:286-287 (invited submission).

2003    “The Sacrificed Generation: Youth, History, and the Colonized Mind in Madagascar,” by Lesley A. Sharp.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.  Reviewed in The International Journal of African Historical Studies 36:1:208-210 (invited submission).

2001    “Madagascar,” by Rita Stevens.  Chelsea House Publisher, 1999.  Reviewed in H-NET Book Review, February (invited submission).

TEACHING

Undergraduate Courses

Principles of Cultural Anthropology
Anthropology of Women
Anthropology of Warfare and Terrorism
Anthropological Perspectives to Social Problems
Introduction to Anthropology
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Introduction to Sociology and Social Problems
Political Economy of Health and Disease
Culture, Health and Environment
Environmental Anthropology
Peoples and Environments
Anthropology of Drugs and Drug Use
Theories of Culture
Education and Culture
Linguistic Anthropology
Language and Culture
Research Practicum

PRESENTATIONS,  KEYNOTE SPEAKING,  AND WORKSHOP PARTICIPATION

Keynote Speaker

2008    “Toxic Wars and Bodies Exposed: A Political Ecology of Health Analysis of Gulf War Syndrome,” University of California-Berkeley, Institute of International Studies, Environmental Politics Colloquium, Keynote Speaker, September 26.

2009    “Blood on the Tenure Tracks: Paradoxes of Power in the Workplace,” Keynote Speaker, American University Public Anthropology Conferences, Advancing Social Justice in Times of Crisis, October 10.

Invited Presentations

2009    “Sickening Wars,” University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Department of Social Change and Development, February 6.

2009    “From Yellow Cake to Armor Plate: Political Ecology and the Cultural and Scientific Battlefields of Depleted Uranium,” University of Texas at San Antonio, Department of Anthropology, February 27.

2008    “Primates Talk Back: Human Impacts of Conservation and Development in Madagascar,” Maryville College, April 8.

2008    “Bringing it All Back Home: The Global Trajectory of Depleted Uranium,” University of Georgia, Department of Anthropology, March 17.

2007    “Primates Talk Back: Human Impacts of Conservation and Development in Madagascar,” Florida Atlantic University, November 19.

2007    “Indigenous Medicine and Human Rights in the Forests of Madagascar,” Florida Atlantic University, November 19.

2007    “Bringing it All Back Home: The Global Trajectory of Depleted Uranium,” University of South Florida,” Department of Anthropology, January 22.

2005    “From Ozone to War Zone: Conceptualizing the Boundaries of Warfare and Peace,” University of South Carolina, Department of Anthropology, March 24.

2004    “Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research and Medicine,” invited workshop participant, Board on Health Sciences Policy, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, proceedings published in Rebuilding the Unity of Health and the Environment, The Greater Houston Metropolitan Area, Lovell Jones, John Porretto, and Christine M. Coussens, Editors, Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.

2003    “Fred Wilson: Objects and Installations,” Blaffer Gallery Contemporary Salon, Discussant on Representations of Race, May 2003, Houston, Texas.

2003    “Women and War,” discussant on public television round-table, “Green Watch,” May 21.

2003    “Reflections on the Cultural Foundations of Warfare: Identifying Cultural Values Shared by War Resisters and Supporters,” presented at University of Houston roundtable discussion on The Attack of Iraq: Meaning and Consequences, April 14.

Professional Conferences

2008    “Weapons and Wombs: A Feminist Analysis of Depleted Uranium Science and Activism,” presented at session on “New Challenges in Feminist Political Ecology: Multi-Sites, Multi-Scale, and Studying Up,” organized by Lisa Gezon and Maria L. Cruz-Torres, Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Memphis, March 24-29.

2007    “Depleted Uranium From the Suburbs to Iraq: Explanatory Models of Illness and Risk,” presented at session on “Critical Medical Anthropologies of the Environment: Questions of Difference, (In)equality, and Justice.” Alexa Dietrich, Organizer.  American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, December 1, 2007.

2007    “Depleted Uranium and the Scientific Battlefields Behind the Frontlines,” presented at session on “Nuclear Security and Global Insecurities,” Barbara Rose Johnston, Organizer.  Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Tampa, Florida, March 27-31.

2006    “Environmental Justice on the Battlefield: Reframing Debates on Depleted Uranium,” presented at Anthropology and Environment invited session on “New Perspectives on Human Rights and the Environment, Bryan Tilt, Chair.  American Anthropological Association annual meeting, San Jose, California, November 2006.

2005    “Secrets Revealed, Revelations Concealed: Heritage Tourism in the Secret City Confronts its Environmental Legacy of Weapons Production,” presented in session on World War II Anthropology: Reconsidering the Past in the Present,” David Price, Chair.  American Anthropological Association annual meeting, Washington, D.C., November 2005.

2005    “From Ozone to War Zone: Conceptualizing the Boundaries of Warfare and Peace,” presented in session on “Risk, Culture and Landscape: Multiple-Party Representations of Perceived Risk,” Barbara Herr Harthorn and Terre Satterfield, Chairs.  Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Santa Fe, April 6.

2005    “Privatizing the Atomic City: From Community to Commodity in Oak Ridge, Tennessee,” Keynote Lecture Presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Anthropological Association, March 10-13, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

2004    “In Their Natural Habitat: Ethnosafaris in the Rainforests of Madagascar,” presented in session on “Tourism, Anthropology and Advocacy,” Carla Guerrón-Montero and James Wallace, Chairs.   Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Dallas, March 2004.

2004    “An Anthropologist on Board: Integrating Science with Advocacy as Board Member of a Grassroots Environmental Organization,” presented in session on “The Social Dynamics of Environmental Advocacy,” Priscilla Weeks, Chair.  Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Dallas, March 2004.

2004    “Can a Politicized Anthropology Constitute Good Science?  Reflections on Researching Environmental Effects of Warfare in Times of Perpetual War,” presented in session on “A Dirty Business?  Taking Sides in the Neighborhood of Industrial Pollution,” Patricia Townsend, Chair. Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Dallas, March 2004.

2003    “Air Pollution and Asthma in the Private City,” (with Robert Fisher, University of Connecticut), invited session presented at the Environmental History of Houston Conference, March 14-15.

2003    “The Environmental Legacy of War: Impacts on People, Resources, and Ecology,” Presented at “Behind the Gas Pump: Implications of our Dependence on Mideast Oil, University of Houston Law Center, Institute for Energy, Law and Enterprise, January 17.

2002    “Classroom Ethnography: Teaching an Anthropology of War and Terrorism in Post 9-11 Texas,” presented in session on “Rethinking the ‘Post-Cold War’ Era,” at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting, New Orleans, November 21-24.

2002    “Breathing Houston Air: An Ethnography of Asthma,” presented at the Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, March 8.

2000    “Assessing Health Priorities: Understanding Illness Neglect in Madagascar’s Bountiful Forests,” presented in invited session of the society for Medical Anthropology on “The Public Face of Environmental Health Issues: In Search of Holism, Clarity, and Social Justice,” Kenyon Stebbins and Brian McKenna, Chairs.  American Anthropological Association annual meeting.

1998    “Ethnicity, Medicine, and Environmental Change,” presented at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting, Philadelphia, December.

1997    “The Not So Rosy Periwinkle: Political Dimensions of Medicinal Plant Use in Tropical Forest Communities,” presented at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting, Washington, D.C., November 21.

1997    “In Their Sights: The Role of the Independent Researcher Working Near a Development Project,” presented at Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Seattle, March 4.

1996    “Identity and Rice Farming in Ranomafana National Park: Development and Ethnic Stereotyping,” (with Bill Derman), presented at African Studies Association annual meeting, San Francisco, November 23-26.

1994    “Research Strategies for Gender Analyses Where Gender Doesn’t Exist,” presented at African Studies Association annual meeting, Boston, December 4-7.

DISCUSSANT ON PROFESSIONAL PANELS

2008    “Exclusion and Its Aftermath,” Discussant on Panel organized by Gretchen Schafft, Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Memphis, Tennessee, March 24-29.

2007    “Violent Exclusion and Reconciliation of Conflict,” Organized by Gretchen Schafft, Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, Tampa, Florida, March 27-31.

2005    “Human Rights Discourses in Africa: Changing Debates, Dilemmas, Opportunities,” Organized by Ellen Foley and Bill Derman, American Anthropological Association annual meeting, Washington, D.C.,  December 3, 2005.

ORGANIZER AND CHAIR OF PROFESSIONAL PANELS

2007    Chair, “Critical Medical Anthropologies of the Environment: Questions of Difference, (In)equality, and Justice.” Organized by Alexa Dietrich, Patricia Townsend, Discussant at American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, December 1.

1998    Organizer (with Michael Ennis-McMillan), “Targeting Populations for Environmental and Health Problems: Political Ecology of Health Approaches.”  American Anthropological Association annual meeting, Philadelphia, December.

1997    Organizer (with Michael Ennis-McMillan),“Power, Health, and Environment: A Critical Synthesis of Political Ecology and Medical Anthropology.”  Invited Session of the American Anthropological Association annual meeting, Washington, D.C., November 21.

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

National

J. William Fulbright Award (IIE), for research on land degradation and changing strategies of resource management in southeastern Madagascar, academic year 1995-1996.

National Science Foundation, Dissertation Improvement Award, for research on deforestation and medicines in Madagascar, March 1995 – December 1995.

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), U.S. Department of Education), for area studies of Madagascar and the Malagasy language, September 1994 – May 1995.

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), (United States Department of Education), for Malagasy language studies, 1993-1994.

Social Science Research Council International Predissertation Fellowship (funded by Ford Foundation and jointly administered with the American Council of Learned Societies).  For research in Madagascar and France on deforestation and medicines in Madagascar, 1992-1993.

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), (United States Department of Education), for French language study, 1992.

Institutional

University of Tennessee, Professional Development award for continuing research on social context of depleted uranium, 2008.

University of Tennessee Professional Development Award, to initiate research on the social context of depleted uranium, 2005-2006.

University of Houston, Small Grants Award, for preliminary research in Vietnam on “Theorizing the Boundaries of Warfare: Effects of Warfare-Related Environmental Contamination on Women’s Health,” Summer 2004 (declined to accept position at University of Tennessee).

Environmental Institute of Houston, Research Award, for preliminary research on asthma among school-aged children in Houston area, 2001.

University of Houston, Small Grants Award, for completion of book, “Endangered Species: Health, Illness and Death Among Madagascar’s People of the Forest,” 2001.

Michigan State University, Graduate Fellowship, for dissertation write-up, 1997.

Michigan State University, College of Social Science, for research in Madagascar, 1995.

Michigan State University, Women and International Development Program, for dissertation research, 1995.

M.S.U. Global Young Scholars Award, International Studies and Programs, 1995.

Michigan State University, Graduate School Fellowship, 1990-1991.

RESEARCH TRAINING

Social Science Research Council.  International Predissertation Fellowship Program Fellows’ Conference, Chicago, Illinois, October 1994.

Conducting Research Issues Concerning Health and Gender in Africa.  Dar es Saalam, Tanzania, February 28 – March 5, 1993.  Sponsored by the Social Science Research Council and the Institute of Development Studies at Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences.

Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, France, 1992 – 1993.  Research and directed writing on Madagascar and Indian Ocean history and culture.

SERVICE

Professional Service

Society for Applied Anthropology, Public Policy Committee (2008-2010)
Society for Applied Anthropology, Membership Committee (2007 – 2008)
Editorial Board, Environmental Health Insights (appointed 2008)

University Service

University of Tennessee
College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Council (2005-2008)
Association of Women Faculty, Board Member (2006-2009)
Department of Anthropology Cultural Faculty Search Committees, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07
Department of Anthropology Physical Faculty Search Committee, 2005-06, 2007-08
Department of Anthropology Graduate Admissions Committee, 2006-2008
Department of Anthropology, Long-Range Faculty Hiring Committee, appointed 2004

University of Houston
College of Social Science Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, 2003 – 2004
Committee to Develop Guidelines for Review of Department Chair, 2002
Department of Anthropology Curriculum Review Committee, 2000 – 2001
Child Care Center Advisory Committee, 2002 – 2004

Michigan State University
Department of Anthropology Advisory Committee, 1991 – 1992
Women and International Development Advisory Committee, 1991 – 1992
Managing Editor, Women and International Working Paper Series, 1991-92; 1993-94

Scholarly Service: Peer Reviews

National Science Foundation Social Science Program
National Science Foundation Science and Society Program
Guggenheim Foundation
American Anthropologist
Medical Anthropology
Health Policy
National Institute for Environmental Health, Pilot Project Program
Human Organization
Columbia University Press
Yale University Press
AltaMira Press
Wadsworth Publishing
McGraw Hill Publishers
University of British Columbia, Hampton Research Fund

Community Service and Outreach

2005    “Children of the Rainforest,” presented at Sam Houston Elementary, Maryville, Tennessee, April 1.

2002-03  President and Member, Board of Directors, Mothers for Clean Air, Houston/Galveston

Consulting
Blackburn and Associates
Social Impact Assessment on Katy Freeway Project
Social Impact Assessment of Bayport Container Project

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Anthropological Association
Society for Applied Anthropology

PROFESSIONAL HONORS

Marquis Who’s Who in the World
Marquis Who’s Who of American Women

Non-Academic Publications

2013/2016    Mobbed! What to Do When They Really Are Out to Get You, Tacoma: Backdoor Press

2012/2016    How to Get Into Grad School (Even if You’re Broke, Dimwitted, or Spent Your Undergrad Years so Smashed You Can’t Even Spell GPA), Revised Edition, 2016.  Tacoma: Backdoor Press

2010    “Just Us Justice: The Gentle Genocide of Workplace Mobbing,” in What Every Target of Workplace Bullying Needs to Know, Anton Hout, Editor, available at www.overcomebullying.org

2010      “From Structural Violence to Structural Silence: Anthropology and Workplace Mobbing,” Society for Applied Anthropology Newsletter, November, available at https://sfaanews.sfaa.net/2010/11/01/from-structural-violence-to-structural-silence-anthropology-and-workplace-mobbing/

Huffington Post

I have been a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, where my writing has been frequently featured on its front page. Topics I write on have included current events, interviews, workplace abuse, popular culture, art, food, kitchen organization, interviews, self-help, and parenting. (Blog posts available at:  www.huffingtonpost.com/janice-harper).

Psychology Today

2013 – 2015 Psychology Today, blog by Janice Harper: Beyond Bullying: Peace Building at School, Work and Home. (available at http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-bullying).

EDITING

• Editing and proofreading for Brenda Peterson, author of 18 books
• Managing Editor, Women and Development Working Paper Series, Michigan State University
• Edited two books on Women and International Development (Westview Press)
• Ten years’ experience supervising and editing theses, dissertations and grant proposals
• Content editing of ebooks and web content

GHOSTWRITING

2015    Driving in the Dark: A Childhood Memoir, with Zoe Niklas, Create Space.

2014    Wall of Secrets: A Story of Adoption, Abuse, and Reconciliation, with Claire Hitchon, Balboa Press.

2013    Finding Heart Horse: A Memoir of Survival, with Claire Hitchon, Balboa Press. (First Prize Winner for Inspirational Memoir; client awarded publishing and publicity contract).

2013    Doctor, Please Help Me Die, with Tom Preston, MD. iUniverse.

2012    Saved: How I Survived a Religious Sex Cult, with Leigh Larkin, Amazon Select.

Uncoiling: A Memoir of Anxiety, Aneurysm and Renewal, with Judith Marcus, Kousa Press, 2012.