Shannon Lee Dawdy is an American anthropologist, historian, and archaeologist. She is a professor at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and a

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

Education

Dawdy holds a PhD in anthropology and history and an MA in history from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, an MA in anthropology from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

and a BA in anthropology from

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

Research

Dawdy is 'Professor of Anthropology and of Social Sciences in the College' at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on the Americas, with a special focus on New Orleans, from the colonial period to the post-Katrina present. Her research has focused on the history of capitalism and informal economies (including piracy) urban landscapes, human-object relations, and temporality (how people shape and experience the past, present, and future). Her newest work examines rapidly changing death practices in the U.S., resulting in both a film
I Like Dirt.
with co-director Daniel Zox) and a book,
American Afterlives: Reinventing Death in the Twenty-first Century
' (October 2021, Princeton). She writes for both academic and general audiences. In 2010, Dawdy was named a MacArthur Fellow. She has also received support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawdy, Shannon Lee American archaeologists 21st-century American anthropologists Living people University of Chicago faculty MacArthur Fellows University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Reed College alumni 1967 births American women archaeologists American women academics 21st-century American women