The Pivoting Anthropologist: From Chernobyl to Social Activism to Kurt Vonnegut to... with Sarah Phillips

Our wonderful guest is Dr. Sarah Phillips, director of the Russian and East European Institute at Indiana University Bloomington. Dr. Phillips walks us through her remarkable anthropological career in the Slavic world from her beginnings in the 90s with studying the effects of Chernobyl to her many social activism projects in Ukraine, taking us to her present fascination with the culture that developed in the USSR around Kurt Vonnegut's writings and translated works. We hope you enjoy, and as always thanks for listening! ABOUT THE GUEST Sarah Phillips is professor of Anthropology and director of the Russian and East European Institute at Indiana University Bloomington. She received her B.A. in Anthropology and Russian from Wake Forest University, and earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been a faculty member at IU-Bloomington since 2003, where she teaches courses on the Anthropology of Russia and Eastern Europe, Postsocialist Gender Formations, and Medical Anthropology. Dr. Phillips' research focuses on gender, health, disability, HIV-AIDS, and addiction in Ukraine. She is currently collaborating with Dr. Jill Owczarzak (Johns Hopkins U) on a four-year research project funded by the National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Dr. Phillips was elected board member-at-large for the Association for the Advancement of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) for 2015-2016, and is Treasurer for the Association for Women in Slavic Studies (AWSS). CREDITS Host/Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom) Host/Associate Producer: Lera Toropin (Connect: Twitter @earlportion) Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew) Associate Producer: Cullan Bendig Assistant Producer: Samantha Farmer Assistant Producer: Katherine Birch Assistant Producer: Zach Johnson Assistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-Crate Recording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel, Charlie Harper Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa, Revolution Void, and The Polish Ambassador ) Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin. Special Guest: Sarah Phillips.