Juris Milestone

Juris Milestone is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Temple University’s College of Liberal Arts. He also serves as an Affiliated Faculty member in Global Studies and Program Director for the Honors Interdisciplinary Minor in Science, Technology, and Society. His academic work bridges sociocultural anthropology with critical analyses of power, expertise, and technology.

• Education: Supported by the G.I. Bill and HUD, Milestone completed a dissertation on university-community partnerships in urban design and low-income development.

Research Interests focus on:

• Modern maintenance and repair cultures under the dominance of innovation narratives.
• Craftsmanship and maker movements in the context of social class.
• Design’s role in power structures and capitalist systems.
• Paul Virilio’s theories on speed and motility.
• Visual anthropology through photo essays and media critiques.

Publications highlight trends in:

• Ethnographic studies of repair practices and their sociocultural implications.
• Analyzing design’s intersection with governance and symbolic capital.
• Critiques of consumer capitalism and technological narratives.
• Collaborative research on community development and design ethics.

Academic Activities:

• Organized panels at the American Anthropological Association annual meetings (e.g., What Will an Anthropology of Maintenance and Repair Look Like?, 2014).
• Active contributor to journals like Anthropology News and Culture, Theory and Critique.

Personal Projects include building a custom motorcycle in rural Pennsylvania, reflecting his ethnographic engagement with maker cultures and repair practices.