Richard Handler

Richard Handler is a Professor of Anthropology and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Virginia's College of Arts & Sciences. His research focuses on nationalism, museum studies, cultural criticism, and the history of anthropology. Handler earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1979, following BA and MA degrees from Columbia University and the University of Chicago.

His major work includes studies of Quebec nationalism, the ethnography of Colonial Williamsburg, and analyses of US postal iconography. Notable publications include Critics Against Culture (2005) and The American Stamp (2023). Handler's interdisciplinary approach bridges anthropology with literature, as seen in his studies of Jane Austen and early 20th-century anthropologists' literary practices.

Handler has supervised doctoral students including Eric Gable and Anna Lawson. His research often examines the intersection of culture, power, and memory, with a focus on institutions like museums and post offices as sites of cultural meaning-making.