Deborah Pellow (March 21, 1945) is an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

. She is a professor emerita at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

’s

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Maxwell School) is the professional public policy school of Syracuse University, a private research university in Syracuse, New York. The school is organized in 11 academic departments and 13 ...

. She is known for her work on urbanization and the anthropology of space and place in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

, particularly in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Education and training

She received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1967 and a PhD from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 1974, where she completed her dissertation on the topic, "''Women in Accra: a study in options''."

Academic career

She is a founding director of the Space and Place Initiative at the Global Affairs Institute at the Maxwell School. She also teaches in the school's Master of Social Science course. Her research is at the intersection of proxemics, ethnicity, micro-politics and conflict, feminist thought, women and gender. From 2009 to 2011, she was served as the president of the Society for Urban National and Transnational Anthropology. She has chaired the University Senate Library Committee and Chancellor Search Committee of Syracuse University. She also lived in northern Nigeria where she studied Hausa.

Selected awards and honors

* William Wasserstrom Prize for the Teaching of Graduate Students (2019) * Faculty Advisor of the Year Award (2016) * Fulbright Senior Research Scholar, Institute of International Education (2005/06) *

Fulbright-Hays The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Faculty Research Grant - alternate (2005) * Appleby Mosher Fund, Maxwell School, Syracuse University (2002) * Appleby Mosher Fund, Maxwell School, Syracuse University (1995) * Fulbright IIE Teaching Fellowship, Osaka University and

Ritsumeikan University is a private university in Kyoto, Japan, that traces its origin to 1869. With the Kinugasa Campus (KIC) in Kyoto, and Kyoto Prefecture, the university also has a satellite called Biwako-Kusatsu Campus (BKC) and Osaka-Ibaraki Campus (OIC). Tod ...

, Japan (1991/92)

Selected works

* ''Africa and Urban Anthropology: Theoretical and Methodological Contributions from Contemporary Fieldwork,'' Taylor & Francis (2023) * ''A New African Elite: Place in the Making a Bridge Generation,'' United Kingdom: Berghahn Books (2022) * ''Living Afar, Longing for Home: The Role of Place in the Creation of the Dagomba New Elite'' * ''Landlords and Lodgers: Socio-Spatial Organization in an Accra Zongo''. Pbk. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2008) * ''Setting Boundaries: The Anthropology of Spatial and Social Organization'', editor and author. Westport CT: Bergin and Garvey (1996) * ''Ghana: Coping with Uncertainty'', with Naomi Chazan Boulder: Westview Press (1986) * ''Women in Accra: Options for Autonomy'' Algonac, MI: Reference Publications, Inc. (1977)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pellow, Deborah 20th-century American anthropologists American academic administrators American women anthropologists Jewish American academics Living people Northwestern University alumni Syracuse University faculty University of Pennsylvania alumni American women academics 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women 1945 births