Seth T. Palmer

Seth T. Palmer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology at Christopher Newport University. His academic work bridges socio-cultural anthropology, queer and feminist theory, and religious studies through fieldwork in Madagascar and the Afro-Indian Ocean world.

• Education: Ph.D. in Socio-Cultural Anthropology, University of Toronto; B.A. in Anthropology, State University of New York at Geneseo.

Dr. Palmer's research interrogates how collective engagements with the past—ancestrality, tradition, and colonial legacies—shape contemporary political aspirations around HIV/AIDS activism and queer rights. His ongoing book manuscript examines spirit possession networks as conduits for transnational health and LGBTQ+ advocacy.

Recent publications span interdisciplinary pedagogy (podcasting), Malagasy religious conflict analysis, and critical reviews of pan-African religious scholarship. His work challenges assumptions about secularism's dominance in global rights movements.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Honorable Mention, Junior Scholar, Queer African Studies Association (2022)

Dr. Palmer has secured pre-doctoral funding from the Woodson Institute of African-American and African Studies (University of Virginia, 2017-2019) to support his ethnographic research.