Shannon Lee Dawdy

Shannon Lee Dawdy is a Professor of Anthropology and Social Sciences at the College of Social Sciences, University of Chicago. Her research bridges archaeology, historical anthropology, and urban studies, focusing on the interplay between material culture and human experiences of colonialism, capitalism, and disaster.

• PhD, University of Michigan, 2003
• Office: Haskell 202, University of Chicago

Fields include: transdisciplinary methodology, informal economies, temporality, and filmmaking in the Americas. Her work examines how landscapes and objects mediate relationships, with thematic concentrations in death practices, post-disaster rebuilding, and colonial legacies.

Dawdy's recent publications explore 21st-century death care innovations, focusing on body disposition and technoscientific approaches to mortality. She is also developing a film I Like Dirt and researching Arctic deep-future archives.

She has received grants from leading institutions including:

• MacArthur Foundation
• National Science Foundation
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• ACLS

Professional activities combine fieldwork in the U.S. and Latin America, with personal interests in agriculture, sailing, and traditional music (fiddle playing).