Justin Armstrong

Justin Armstrong is a Senior Lecturer in Writing and Anthropology at Wellesley College. His research focuses on experimental ethnography, anthropology of exchange, and cultural geography in remote regions such as Iceland's Hornstrandir peninsula, Micronesia's Yap Island, and abandoned farming communities in the North American High Plains. He directs the Wellesley-in-Iceland exchange program and teaches courses like True Stories: Ethnographic Writing, emphasizing experiential learning through games, simulations, and multi-modal assignments.

• Education:
• B.A., Wilfrid Laurier University
• M.A. and Ph.D., McMaster University

His creative work includes the novel Wyomings (2018) and sound art projects with Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland. He also organizes anthropological field courses to Iceland and collaborates on ethnographic sound portraits using locally recorded audio.

Awards:

• Marion and Jasper Whiting Travel Fellowship (supported his research on Yap's stone money)

Teaching & Outreach:

• Founder of Wellesley-in-Iceland program (since 2016)
• Anthropological field course instructor in Iceland
• Advocate for innovative writing pedagogy

Labs/Teams:

Collaborates with the University of Akureyri and Fogo Island Inn on interdisciplinary projects combining anthropology, sound art, and cultural preservation.