People
Our department has eleven core faculty and a number of lecturers that cover the broad
spectrum of anthropology. With a regional focus on the Pacific Rim, our anthropologists
work locally here in San Diego and southern California, as well as internationally
in Mexico (Baja California, Oaxaca, and Campeche), the Solomon Islands, and Indonesia.
Fall 2019 Office Hours - Coming soon
Tenured & Tenure-Track Faculty
Dr. Todd Braje
Professor & Interim Graduate Advisor
Interests: Marine Historical Ecology; Coastal Archaeology
Dr. Matthew Lauer
Professor & Director, Sustainability Program
Interests: Environmental Anthropology
Dr. Seth W. Mallios
Professor & Director, South Coastal Information Center
Interests: Historical Archaeology, Economic Anthropology
Dr. Ramona L. Pérez
Professor & Director, Center for Latin American Studies
Interests: Food and Nutrition, Migration and Identity
Dr. Erika Robb Larkins
Associate Professor & Director Center for Brazilian Studies
Interests: Violence and inequality in urban settings, Brazil
Dr. Elisa Sobo
Professor & Department Chair
Interests: Medical Anthropology, Anthropology of Childhood
Dr. Isaac Ullah
Associate Professor & Undergraduate Advisor
Interests: Computational Archaeology, Social-Ecological Systems
Lecturers & Associated Faculty (Fall 2019)
Staff
Iris Isla
Administrative Coordinator
Office: AL-448
Phone: (619) 594-8450
Email: [email protected]
Featured Students
Anthropology speaks to me because, at its core, it is about empathy and human connection.
Take archaeology, for instance. I am often astounded by the age, magnitude, or importance
of an archaeological site or artifact, but it is the fingerprint in the clay, the
snarky comment on a page’s margin, or the notches on a door-frame that make me stop
and think. These are not grand monuments or feats of human achievement; they are just
human. These tiny details of life tie people together as individuals through time
and space. Anthropology aids us in connecting with people from the past to the present,
from the other side of the world to right next to you. This connection is imperative.
We, and the world, are all the better when we can empathize with people who are unlike
ourselves.
I love to travel and to learn from the people in other cultures. A deep appreciation
for other perspectives was instilled in me from an early age because I went to a Waldorf
school from age 5 through to high school graduation. Even so, it wasn’t until I took
an anthropology class on magic, witchcraft, and religion that I saw anthropology as
a pathway that would feed my curiosity about and deepen my understanding of humankind.
The breadth of the anthropology curriculum at SDSU allows for a variety of career
paths: I intend to pursue a business of my own but believe that the warmth, empathy,
and true interest in humanity cultivated in SDSU’s anthropology program will serve
me well in any career I may later choose.
Anthropology is a great major because of the tools it provides us as we approach sensitive
issues, including gender, race, and many more hot topics—not just out in ‘the field,’
but also in our everyday life. Anthropology found me through my work photographing
the local jazz music scene. The stories I heard opened my eyes to to the value of
an ethnographic approach to this cultural arena. My understanding of culture, and
the different forces that help form it, has really grown here at SDSU, in large part
through the variety of classes offered, conversations with professors, and in-class
debates seen through the lens of anthropology. Graduate school is my next goal in
anthropology; to further expand my understanding of the culture here in the US and
around the world.
Featured Alumni
Almost every student who has passed through our department recently has taken a class
from Sam Kobari, who has more students every semester in ANTH 101 than most faculty
members have in five years. One reason students flow toward Kobari is that he knows
better than most instructors where students are coming from: Mr. Kobari was a student
at SDSU himself! He earned his MA in anthropology in 2012, after having completed
a bioarchaeological analysis of Chumash burial findings from 1500 BP to 1800 BP. His
bioarchaeological research continues, but Kobari’s true professional calling is teaching.
No job has ever been more fulfilling and joyful to him. He loves the connections he
builds with his students and the fact that he gets to talk about what it is to be
human throughout the school year. When not in the classroom, Kobari can be found surfing
the beaches of San Diego, rock climbing, and camping. Completing an MA in anthropology
has provided Mr. Kobari with the opportunity to do what he loves both in the classroom
and beyond.
Douglas La Rose currently works as a Program Development and Program Quality Manager
for Catholic Relief Services in Sudan. His job is an applied anthropologist's dream
- he works with communities in three states of the Darfur Region and the Red Sea State
to co-create natural resource management, livelihoods, health, nutrition, and water
and sanitation projects. Many of these communities have been displaced by conflict
and are returning home from neighboring countries to re-establish their livelihoods.
Having a background in anthropology gives Mr. La Rose the skills to understand barriers
to recovery and development that communities face. This deeper understanding informs
program design which in turn creates culturally-contextualized, transformative programming.
Since graduating from the SDSU Anthropology M.A program in 2011, Mr. La Rose has lived
in four countries (Ghana, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Sudan) and had extensive assignments
in two other countries (Madagascar and Malawi). His M.A thesis was on agricultural
adaptations to climate change in the forest-savanna transition area of the Volta Region
of Ghana.
Emeritus Faculty
(PhD American University 1978) Cultural Anthropology, applied anthropology, sustainability,
the environment and language
Email:
[email protected]
(PhD U California-Santa Barbara 1991) Complex hunter-gatherers, development of socio-political
complexity, archaeological method & theory, anthropological ethics, European contact
in North America, ethnoarchaeology, exchange, Cultural Resource Management; California,
North America
(PhD U Arizona 1972) Linguistics, cognitive anthropology, Athapaskan speakers, history
of theory; US Southwest, Northern Mexico
Email:
[email protected]
(PhD Michigan S 1973) Social anthropology, history of ethnological theory, ethnomusicology,
religion, folklore, India
Email:
[email protected]
(PhD U Hawai’i 1972) Cultural Anthropology, linguistics, historical linguistics and
dialectology; Philippines, Southeast Asia
Email:
[email protected]
(PhD U of Wisconsin-Madison 1971) Physical anthropology, primate ecology and behavior,
osteology, environmental archaeology, zooarchaeology; Latin America, Vietnam, SE Asia
EMail:
[email protected]
(PhD U Wisconsin-Madison 1971) Biological Anthropology, human biology, genetics, medical
anthropology, aging, nutritional anthropology, reproduction; Appalachia
Email:
[email protected]
(PhD U California-Berkeley 1970) Applied, urban, research methods, data analysis,
computers; Africa, North America
Email:
[email protected]
(PhD U Minnesota 1967) Art, social anthropology, applied anthropology, culture and
personality, legal anthropology; China, Europe, North America
Email:
[email protected]
(PhD U Arizona 1978) Old World archaeology, Paleolithic, Neolithic, lithic analysis
Email:
[email protected]
(PhD U California-Los Angles 1967) Psychological anthropology, the individual and
culture, ethnology; South America
(JD WSU 1976; PhD Michigan S 1968) Sociocultural anthropology, law and society, environmental
law, recreation and public land use; Japan, Okinawa
Email:
[email protected]
Adjunct Faculty
(PhD University of California-Los Angeles) Cultural ecology, culture change, time
allocation, cultural resource management, applied ethnography; Peruvian Amazon, Southern
California, Native North Americans; Email:
[email protected]
(PhD Washington State University 1987) Hunter-gatherers, early agriculture, site formation
processes, food shortage-facilities, curation, lithic technology; Western North America;
Email:
[email protected]
(PhD New York University 1975; Adj Professor) Medical anthropology, psychological
anthropology, visual anthropology; Caribbean, Brazil
(PhD University of California-Riverside 2001; Executive Director, Waitt Institute
for Discovery) Maritime trade, cave archaeology, rock art, ceramics; Mesoamerica,
Caribbean; Email:
[email protected]
(PhD Columbia University 2009) Anthropology of religion, mass media (particularly
visual media), the politics of memory, social theory, and anthropology of the body;
Spain, Europe, and Latin America
(PhD State University of New York-Stony Brook 2000) Primate ecology, behavior, reproduction,
development, social structure, and conservation, Rhinopithecus, Hapalemur; China,
Vietnam, Madagascar; Email:
[email protected]
(PhD University of Wisconsin-Madison 1981) Archaeological field methods and techniques,
instrument mapping and survey, technical illustration and drafting, archaeological
excavation and conservation, Maya archaeology and cultural history, Maya ideology
and urban design, faunal analysis
(MA San Diego State 1973) Physical anthropology, museology
Trudi Andres
Shannon B. Black 
Corrina Guenther
Cheryl Hinton
David Kamper, Ph.D.
Jocelyn Killmer, Ph.D.
Sam D. Kobari
Jaime Lennox
Savanna Schuermann
Yale Strom
Drew Thomases, Ph.D.