Eric Haanstad

Eric Haanstad is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He holds concurrent roles as a Faculty Fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. His research focuses on state security, music in ethnographic fieldwork, symbolic expression, and theatrical performance in Southeast Asia, with fieldwork in Cambodia, Thailand, Germany, and the U.S. Seacoast. He earned a B.A. (1996) from the University of Minnesota and M.A. (2001) and Ph.D. (2008) in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Key research interests include predictive security, design anthropology, and collaborations with Ramayana-based masked theater performers in Thailand and Cambodia. His published work includes the book To Protect and Suppress: Order and Spectacle in the Year of the Thai Police, examining the Royal Thai Police through ethnographic research. He integrates performative ethnography and symbology into his studies of temporality, violence, and media in Southeast Asia.

No scientific awards are explicitly listed. His advising and grants details are not provided in the texts. Eric collaborates extensively with academic institutes and engages in interdisciplinary projects bridging anthropology and security studies.