معرفی
Daniel Jordan Smith is the Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr. Professor of International Studies in the Department of Anthropology at Brown University, where he joined the faculty in 2001 after completing a Mellon postdoctoral fellowship at the Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC). He currently serves as Director of the Watson Institute's Africa Initiative and previously held leadership positions including Chair of the Department of Anthropology (2012-2019) and Associate Director of PSTC (2006-2011).
His formal education includes an AB in Sociology from Harvard University (1983), an MPH from Johns Hopkins University (1989), and a PhD in Anthropology from Emory University (1999). Smith has received numerous teaching honors including the Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence (2015-2018) and the William C. McGloughlin Award for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences (2007-2009).
Smith's research spans anthropological demography, medical anthropology, and political anthropology with a specific focus on Nigeria. His work examines the intersections of social change and social reproduction, particularly as they unfold in population processes and health-related behavior. Key research areas include HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, political culture, corruption, Pentecostal Christianity, and infrastructure. His most recent project, supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, investigated how Nigerians cope with infrastructure failures and how these coping mechanisms paradoxically reinforce state power.
His scholarly output reveals consistent focus on Nigerian society, with particular attention to masculinity, corruption, and health systems. The publications demonstrate methodological sophistication combining ethnographic fieldwork with demographic approaches, often examining how macro-level political and economic forces shape intimate personal decisions around marriage, sexuality, and health.
- 2022 Karen T. Romer Prize for Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring
- 2020-21 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 2015 Elliott P. Skinner Award for AIDS Doesn't Show Its Face
- 2008 Margaret Mead Award for A Culture of Corruption
- 2017 Special Commendation for the Amaury Talbot Prize
Smith has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on numerous significant research grants from organizations including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. His collaborative work includes the five-country comparative ethnographic study 'Love, Marriage, and HIV' and research on Pentecostalism and AIDS in Nigeria funded by the Templeton Foundation. He has mentored numerous doctoral students through dissertation improvement grants and training programs.
Smith directs the Watson Institute's Africa Initiative and has been deeply involved with Brown's Population Studies and Training Center throughout his career, first as a postdoctoral fellow, then as Associate Director, and through ongoing research collaboration. His work bridges disciplinary boundaries between anthropology, demography, public health, and political science, creating a distinctive approach to understanding contemporary African societies.
