Alex Blanchette

Alex Blanchette is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on industrial labor, capitalism, and environmental impacts, particularly in the context of U.S. meatpacking industries. He holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Chicago (2013), an MA from the same institution (2008), and a BA from the University of Toronto (2004).

• Education:
• PhD, Cultural Anthropology, University of Chicago (2013)
• MA, Cultural Anthropology, University of Chicago (2008)
• BA, Anthropology, University of Toronto (2004)

Blanchette's major works include Porkopolis: American Animality, Standardized Life, and the Factory Farm (2020), which won multiple awards, and How Nature Works: Rethinking Labor on a Troubled Planet (2019). His current research explores deindustrialization in Chicago and oral histories of non-capitalist livelihoods.

Awards:

• 2021 Diana Forsythe Prize
• 2nd place Victor Turner Prize (2021)
• Gregory Bateson Prize Honorable Mention (2021)
• Society for the Anthropology of Work Book Prize (2021)

Teaching: Courses include American Meat, Anthropology of Capitalism, and Environmental Anthropology. He advises senior theses and directs the Environmental Studies program.

Research Projects: Investigating Chicago's Union Stock Yards legacy and documenting alternative economic practices outside capitalist frameworks.