Kelly Askew

Kelly Askew is a Professor of Anthropology and Afroamerican & African Studies at the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. She holds a PhD in Anthropology (Harvard, 1997) and a BA in Music and Anthropology (Yale, 1997), with over three decades of fieldwork in Tanzania and Kenya.

• Education
  • PhD in Anthropology, Harvard University (1997)
  • BA in Music and Anthropology, Yale University
• Key Roles
  • Chair of the Department of Anthropology
  • Niara Sudarkasa Collegiate Professor

Her research bridges three primary domains: Postsocialist transitions (e.g., property rights formalization and land conflicts), art and political aesthetics (e.g., Swahili music, African visual arts, ethnographic filmmaking), and indigenous political movements (e.g., Maasai and Parakuyo pastoralists). She has produced award-winning documentaries like The Chairman and the Lions (2013) and Maasai Remix (2019), which examine cultural resilience and land rights.

Scientific awards include being a finalist for the African Studies Association Herskovits Award (2002). Recent publications analyze land dispossession mechanisms, postsocialist cultural production, and media’s role in political identity. She has secured grants from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Ford Foundation.