Miki Makihara

Miki Makihara is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Queens College and holds academic roles in the Ph.D. Programs in Anthropology, Linguistics, and Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures at the Graduate Center, CUNY. She specializes in linguistic anthropology, focusing on communication, sociolinguistics, and Indigenous language revitalization, particularly in Polynesia and Latin America. Her work emphasizes discourse analysis, ethnography, and the intersection of language with identity, politics, and social change.

She earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Yale University in 1999. Her research spans over two decades on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), examining multilingualism, language ideologies, and Indigenous identity formation. She has also authored books and articles exploring language contact, political stance-taking, and sociocultural transformations in Pacific societies.

Her courses include 'Language, Culture, and Society,' 'Anthropology of Bilingualism,' and 'Globalization and Language,' reflecting her commitment to bridging academic theory and real-world socio-linguistic issues. She collaborates on UNESCO projects and co-edited the influential volume Consequences of Contact: Language Ideologies and Sociocultural Transformations in Pacific Societies (2007).

Makihara’s recent work explores 'stancemaking' and political subjectivities, as well as language revitalization strategies in marginalized communities. Her research bridges anthropological theory with applied linguistics, contributing to global debates on language rights and Indigenous sovereignty.