Katherine Verdery
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Katherine Verdery (born 1948) is an American
anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
, author, and
emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...
professor, following her tenure as the Julien J. Studley Faculty Scholar and Distinguished Professor at the
Graduate Center of the City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...
.


Career

She used to be the Eric R. Wolf Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Russian and East European Studies at the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
(1997–2005), following twenty years as an assistant/associate professor of anthropology at the
Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
(1977–1997). Verdery played a number of important roles in academic research institutions. The first anthropologist to be elected to the presidency of the National Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (2004–2006), she also held important advisory positions (such as on the Board of Overseers,
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, and the Board of Electors, William Wyse Professorship and Chair of Social Anthropology,
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
). From 1987 to 1990 she was the
American Anthropological Association The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an American organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropo ...
's representative to the American Council of Learned Societies / Soviet Academy of Sciences Commission on Ethnography, and from 1989 to 1990 she was the vice president of the Romanian Studies Society. She served on the National Council for Soviet and East European Research as trustee (1989–1996), an executive board member (1991–1993), and chair of the board (1995–1996). From 2002 to 2005, she was a member of the executive board of the
Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it maintains a headqua ...
, as a representative for anthropology. She also served on the boards of the American Anthropological Association and the American Ethnological Society.


Academics

Among the first anthropologists to conduct research behind the
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
, Verdery spent an extended period working in
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
in the 1970s–1980s. From this research she published eight books and numerous articles, as well as several edited collections, all informed by her theoretical model of socialism. Her work placed her in the forefront of scholars of the socialist system, both in anthropology and more broadly. Her primary themes were ethno-national identity; the political economy of Romania before, during, and after socialism; property relations; and ethnography in the archives of the communist-era Romanian Secret Police, a topic she pioneered. Having worked in Romania for an extended period in the 1970s–1980s, she was extensively surveilled by the
Securitate The Department of State Security (), commonly known as the Securitate (, ), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the '' Siguranța'' with help and direction from the Soviet MG ...
under the Ceaușescu regime, which incorrectly suspected her of spying. After Ceaușescu's fall, she was able to view her surveillance files through the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives ( CNSAS). Her book ''My Life as a Spy: Investigations in a Secret Police File'' describes the files' contents and her reactions to seeing them. Among others, Journalist
Neal Ascherson Charles Neal Ascherson (born 5 October 1932) is a Scottish journalist and writer. In his youth he fought for the British in the Malayan Emergency. He has been described by Radio Prague as "one of Britain's leading experts on central and easte ...
reviewed Verdery's book (, May 2018) in the
London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...
in July 2018.Neal Ascherson
"Don't imagine you're smarter"
London Review of Books, 19 July 2018.


Books

*Transylvanian Villagers: Three Centuries of Political, Economic, and Ethnic Change, University of California Press (1983). *National Ideology under Socialism: Identity and Cultural Politics in Ceausescu's Romania, Princeton University Press (1991). *What was Socialism, and What Comes Next?, Princeton University Press (1996). *The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, Columbia University Press (1999). *The Vanishing Hectare: Property and Value in Postsocialist Transylvania, Cornell University Press (2003). *Peasants under Siege: The Collectivization of Romanian Agriculture, 1949–1962 (with Gail Kligman), Princeton University Press (2011). *Secrets and Truths: Ethnography in the Archive of the Romanian Secret Police, East European University Press (2014). *My Life as a Spy: Investigations in a Secret Police File, Duke University Press (2018).


References


External links


Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verdery, Katherine 1948 births Living people American anthropologists Johns Hopkins University faculty University of Michigan faculty CUNY Graduate Center faculty Stanford University alumni Reed College alumni