Cortney L. Hughes Rinker

Cortney L. Hughes Rinker is a Professor of Global Affairs and Director of the program at George Mason University. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Irvine, with concentrations in Feminist Studies and Medicine, Science, and Technology Studies. Her research focuses on medical anthropology, particularly end-of-life care, reproductive health, and the intersection of Islam with healthcare systems. She has conducted long-term fieldwork in Morocco and the U.S., examining topics ranging from reproductive policies to pain management in palliative care. Her work bridges religious identity, public policy, and global health, with a focus on marginalized communities.

Key contributions include her 2021 book Actively Dying, which explores Muslim identities through end-of-life experiences, and her 2013 book Islam, Development, and Urban Women’s Reproductive Practices, analyzing Moroccan reproductive policies. She has also contributed to anthologies on the Middle East, aging, and applied anthropology. Her current research in Morocco investigates palliative care’s political and economic dimensions, supported by grants from the American Institute for Maghrib Studies and Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Rinker teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in global affairs, medical anthropology, and ethnographic methods. She leads the Diplomacy Lab at George Mason, collaborating with the U.S. Department of State on foreign policy research. She served as Editor-in-Chief of Anthropology & Aging and co-edited Applied Anthropology: Unexpected Spaces, Topics, and Methods. Her work emphasizes applied research, including an open-access cultural anthropology textbook funded by the Virtual Library of Virginia.