Setha M. Low (born March 14, 1948) is a former president of the

American Anthropological Association The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, ...

, a professor in

environmental psychology Environmental psychology is a branch of psychology that explores the relationship between humans and the external world. It examines the way in which the natural environment and our built environments shape us as individuals. Environmental Psychol ...

, and the director of the Public Space Research Group at the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges and seven pro ...

. Low also served as a Conservation Guest Scholar at the

Getty Conservation Institute The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), located in Los Angeles, California, is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. It is headquartered at the Getty Center but also has facilities at the Getty Villa, and commenced operation in 1985.J. Paul Getty ...

. Low received a B.A. in Psychology from

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popu ...

in 1969 and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

in 1971 and 1976. Her recent research includes an ethnography of residents in

gated communities A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. ...

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

and on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

and a study of urban parks with case studies including New York City's Prospect Park, Orchard Beach in

Pelham Bay Park Pelham Bay Park is a municipal park located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is, at , the largest public park in New York City. The park is more than three times the size of Manhattan's Central Park. The pa ...

, and Jacob Riis Park in the

Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bir ...

. More broadly Low's research includes work on the anthropology of space and place,

medical anthropology Medical anthropology studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives. It is one of the most highly developed areas of anthropology and applie ...

, urban anthropology,

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

, landscapes of fear, security/insecurity, and gating in Latin America, the United States, and the cities of Western Europe. Low grew up in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and currently resides in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Publications

* 2022 ''Why Public Space Matters''. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197543733. * 2016 ''Spatializing Culture: The Ethnography of Space and Place''. New York and London: Routledge. * 2006 ''The Politics of Public Space'' ith co-editor Neil Smith New York and London: Routledge. * 2005 ''Rethinking Urban Parks: Public Space and Cultural Diversity''. University of Texas Press. * 2003 ''Behind the Gates: The New American Dream''. New York and London: Routledge. * 2003 ''The Anthropology of Space and Place: Locating Culture'' ith co-author Denise Lawrence-Zuñiga Oxford: Blackwell. * 2000 ''On the Plaza: The Politics of Public Space and Culture''. Austin: University of Texas Press. * 1999 ''Theorizing the City: The New Urban Anthropology Reader''. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. * 1996 "Spatializing Culture: The Social Production and Social Construction of Public Space," ''American Ethnologist'' 23(4): 861–879. * 1995 ''Children of the Urban Poor: The Sociocultural Environment of Growth, Development and Malnutrition in Guatemala City'' ith co-author F. Johnston Boulder: Westview. * 1995 "Indigenous Architectural Representations: Mesoamerican and Caribbean Foundations of the Spanish American Plaza," ''American Anthropologist'' 97(4): 748–762.

References

* * *

External links

Setha M. Low, Professor of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, CUNY
1948 births Living people American women anthropologists American anthropologists American psychologists American women psychologists Environmental psychologists 21st-century American women {{US-anthropologist-stub