Elizabeth Emma Ferry

Elizabeth Emma Ferry is a Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis University, specializing in economic anthropology with a focus on value, materiality, and mining in Mexico, Colombia, and the U.S. Her research examines the intersections of finance, labor, and resource extraction, including a current book project on gold as a physical substance in mining and financial systems. She holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and has held fellowships at institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.

Her teaching includes courses on economic anthropology, Latin American ethnography, and the anthropology of food. Key awards include the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing (2019) and multiple grants from Brandeis University. Ferry’s work often explores transnational resource dynamics, as seen in her studies of Afro-Colombian territorial defense and the politics of silver mining in Guanajuato, Mexico.

• Education: Ph.D. and M.A. in Anthropology from Johns Hopkins University; B.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University
• Research Affiliations: Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University
• Recent Projects: Book on gold’s material and financial roles; co-edited volume Timely Assets on resources and temporality

Her research methods combine ethnographic fieldwork with critical theory, addressing how material substances like minerals mediate economic systems and social relations.