Robin A Shoaps

Robin A Shoaps is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, with a joint appointment in Linguistics. Holding a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2004), Dr. Shoaps specializes in linguistic anthropology and employs frameworks like Peircian semiotics to study language as a cultural resource. Their research focuses on discourse analysis, power dynamics, and meaning-making across diverse contexts including Mesoamerica, the United States, and the Circumpolar North.

Research and Teaching: Dr. Shoaps investigates anthropological themes such as personhood, gender, kinship, ritual, and morality through linguistic and ethnographic approaches. They direct the Digital Ethnography Lab, which supports multimedia data collection for anthropology students, and co-organized courses like "Language and Gender" and "Human-Animal Relations in the Circumpolar North." Their methodological interests include semiotic processes in communication, fieldwork design, and analyzing political media.

Current Affiliation: Office located in Bunnell Building 312, with lab facilities in Bunnell Building 309. Active fieldwork in Alaska and Mesoamerica since joining UAF in 2012.