I joined the Museum as Director of the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change and Visiting Associate Curator in October of 1994. My research program has concentrated on understanding the impact of global economic restructuring on the ways in which people organize themselves and constitute their social identities. As an applied anthropologist, my aim has been to use the results of the research to formulate more humane solutions to social problems. This research has taken place in two different sites: Central and South American "hinterlands" and urban areas in the United States. In the Central and South American context, I researched the ways in which indigenous people have confronted massive disruption to their use of land and resources as a result of national development schemes. In the urban United States, I have researched the obstacles to resource acquisition for economically disadvantaged groups and the ways in which local social organization forms and cultural strategies can be incorporated into grass-roots empowerment programs. I am also interested in exploring the obstacles and opportunities for anthropologists to disseminate what they know about culture to the general public.

As Director of CCUC I hope to expand efforts in the anthropology department to create local links in Chicago on research and public education programs, work closely with public programs and education on new exhibits, and work closely with the Center for Evolutionary and Environmental Biology (CEEB) to foster interdisciplinary approaches to the understanding of the human-environment interface.