Faye V Harrison

Faye V. Harrison is a Professor of African American Studies and Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with affiliations to the Program on Women & Gender in Global Perspectives, Center for African Studies, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, and Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies. A sociocultural and political anthropologist, she specializes in social inequalities, human rights, and intersections of race, gender, class, and transnational belonging.

• Education: BA in Anthropology from Brown University, MA and PhD in Anthropology from Stanford University

Research Interests focus on neoliberal globalization’s impact on marginalized communities, critical race feminist methodology, and decolonizing anthropology. She has conducted fieldwork in the Caribbean, UK, South Africa, and the U.S., with intellectual engagements in Nigeria, India, Denmark, Netherlands, Japan, and China.

Recent Publications (2025) explore racialization, systemic racism, and transnational solidarity through edited works like Visibilities and Invisibilities of Race and Racism, while her 2024 Human Organization article bridges abolitionist praxis with academic activism. Earlier works (2016–2019) examine neoliberalism’s assault on indigenous rights, critical ethnography, and decolonial pedagogy.

Scientific Awards include:

• Bronislaw Malinowski Award (2022)
• American Anthropological Association Presidential Award (2018)
• Zora Neale Hurston Award (2007)
• Legacy Scholar Award (2010)

As a former President of the International Union of Anthropological & Ethnological Sciences (2013–2018), she co-chaired the World Anthropological Union’s inaugural committee. Her work bridges academic scholarship with advocacy for marginalized communities globally.