Amanda Poole

Amanda Poole is a cultural and environmental anthropologist and Professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), affiliated with the Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences within the Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Her research focuses on applied ethnography, political ecology, and refugee studies, with regional expertise in the Horn of Africa and Appalachia. She co-authored the 2024 book Hosting States and Unsettled Guests, examining refugee policies and migration deterrence in Ethiopia. At IUP, she teaches courses on cultural anthropology and directs the departmental internship program, while contributing to the Sustainability Studies and Pan-African Studies Programs. Her work includes field research on Eritrean refugees, hydraulic fracturing impacts in Pennsylvania, and Fulbright-led workshops in Madagascar on applied anthropology.

• Research Themes: Refugee agency, temporal violence, migration policies, environmental governance.
• Recent Projects: Multi-sited ethnography on Eritrean refugee experiences, policy analysis in Ethiopia, and community-based studies in Appalachia.

Her publications critically analyze how state policies and development interventions shape refugee decision-making and temporal futures. She emphasizes the disconnect between educational programs and refugees' lived realities, conceptualizing 'teleological violence' as a form of structural harm.