Postdoctoral Fellows

Brian Hoey

Brian Hoey As a Research Affiliate at CEEL, I continue work on a book manuscript as well as prepare articles, book chapters and conference papers. I have also begun an co-editing a volume with CEEL Post-Doctoral Fellow, Peter Richardson, that highlights center research where it intersects with enduring frontier symbolism in American culture. I was awarded the Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan in 2002 with the defense of my dissertation titled Changing Places: Life-style Migration, Refuge, and the Quest for Potential Selves in the Midwest's Post-industrial Middle Class. During the past academic year I was a visiting professor at a liberal arts college known for interdisciplinary, project-oriented undergraduate education. I was especially pleased to teach a course on the cultural history of the middle-class. This well received class was a direct extension of the research I conducted while at the Center. I called it "American Dreams: An Anthropology of Capitalism and Working Families."

Although I have recently focused fieldwork here in the United States, my research experience is both international and domestic with fieldwork ranging from the outer islands of Indonesia to the American Midwest. Although different, these projects share important characteristics that express enduring intellectual interests. These include my desire to conduct community or organizational based research as well as work in issues of migration, narrative constructions and identity, community building and participation, and personal negotiations between domains work, family, and the self in different social and historical contexts. I also have a longstanding commitment to environmental studies and exploring cultural dimensions of human-ecological problems.

Brian Hoey My plans for teaching and research include continuing work in cultures of identity. I plan to involve students in collaborative, group projects collecting richly textured portrayals of everyday life expressed in carefully crafted ethnographic accounts and documentary in order to look at how identities tied to work and family structure participation in civic domains. It is my intent to find a rewarding teaching position and to work closely with an interdisciplinary team of educators. My educational experience is built on that. I have enjoyed that kind of teamwork as a visiting professor. I also recognize the importance of ongoing research, scholarship, and publication for enhancing the quality of my teaching. This is one reason why I would value having students active in short and long-term, research projects. I am motivated to maintain the opportunities inherent in this style of education.