Department of Anthropology

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dr. Alma Gottlieb

Professor of Anthropology

Research Interests

Gender and sexuality, feminist theory; anthropology of the body, cultures of health; religion, ritual, performance; indigenous religions, comparative Judaism; family, infants and young children; epistemology of fieldwork, ethnographic writing, issues of representation, interpretive theory; immigration, globalization; West Africa, contemporary West African diaspora in Europe and the U.S.

Courses

Graduate Level: Feminism, Gender and Sexuality Feminist Theory in Anthropology Explorations in Feminism and Postmodernism in Anthropology Cultural Images of Women Research Proposal Seminar Dissertation Writing Seminar Kinship/Culture/Power/Africa Kinship and Social Structure in Africa Integrated Four-Field Proseminar; Combined Graduate/Advanced Undergraduate Level: Cultures of Africa Religions of Africa Infants and Young Children in Cross-Cultural Perspective Fieldwork in Cultural Anthropology: Theory and Method Religion in Anthropological Perspective Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology Writing Ethnography; Undergraduate Level: Memoirs of Africa Introduction to Modern Africa Cultural Images of Women/Women’s Lives Women Cross-Culturally/Women in World Cultures Images of the "Other": Anthropological Perspectives Anthropology in a Changing World Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Introduction to Social Anthropology and Ethnology

Publications

Books

  • Gottlieb, Alma, and Phillip Graham. Braided Worlds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
  • Should I Stay or Should I Go? New Fieldsites, New Visions. Ed. Alma Gottlieb. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. The Afterlife Is Where We Come from: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
  • A World of Babies: Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies. Ed. Judy DeLoache. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
  • Gottlieb, Alma, and M. L. Murphy. Beng-English Dictionary. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Linguistics Club, 1995.
  • Gottlieb, Alma, and Phillip Graham. Parallel Worlds: An Anthropologist and a Writer Encounter Africa . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
  • Gottlieb, Alma, and Phillip Graham. Parallel Worlds: An Anthropologist and a Writer Encounter Africa. New York: Crown/Random House, 1993.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought.. Bloomington: Indiana University Press (African Systems of Thought Series), 1992.
  • Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation. Ed. Alma Gottlieb and Thomas Buckley. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Book Contributions

  • Gottlieb, Alma, and Phillip Graham. "Mad to be Modern." Resident Aliens: Learning to Live Cross-Culturally. Ed. Sarah Davis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Who Minds the Baby? Beng Perspectives on Mothers, Neighbors, and Strangers as Caretakers." Substitute Parents: Alloparenting in Human Societies. Ed. Gillian Bentley and Ruth Mace. Oxford: Bergahn (Biosocial Society Symposium Series), 2009.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Rituals for and Care of the Newborn." The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion,. Ed. Richard Shweder, Thomas Bidell, Anne Dailey, Suzanne Dixon, Peggy Miller, and John Modell. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Loggers vs. Spirits: Competing Models of the Beng Forest." African Ethnoforests: Sacred Groves, Culture, and Conservation. Ed. Celia Nyamweru. Oxford: James Currey, 2008. 149-163.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Ethnography: Theory and Methods." A Handbook for Social Science Field Research; Essays & Bibliographic Sources on Research Design and Methods. Ed. Ellen Perecman and Sara Curran. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2006. 87-117.
  • Gottlieb, Alma, and Phillip Graham. "Our Village Needs Chairs." Bridges to Friendship: Narratives on Fieldwork and Friendship. Ed. Bruce Grindal and Frank Salamone. Prospect Heights: Waveland, 2006. 204-217.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Babies’ Baths, Babies’ Remembrances: A Beng Theory of Development, History and Memory." Collective Memory and Generation in Africa. Ed. Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg. London: International African Institute, 2006.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Non-Western Approaches to Spiritual Development among Infants and Young Children: A Case Study from West Africa." The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence. Ed. Peter Benson, Pamela King, Linda Wagener, and Eugene Roehlkepartain. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2005. 150-162.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "From Pollution to Love Magic: The New Anthropology of Menstruation." Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Ed. Carolyn Sargent and Caroline Brettell. Upper Saddle River: Pretice-Hall, 2004. 256-267.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Foreword: Falling into Trust." Knowing Bodies, Feeling Minds: Towards Embodied Teaching and Learning. Ed. Liora Bresler. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2004. 1-5.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Beng." Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World’s Cultures. Ed. Carol Ember and Melvin Ember. New York: Kluwer/Plenum, 2003. 323-333.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Interpreting Gender and Sexuality: Approaches from Cultural Anthropology." Exotic No More: Anthropology on the Front Lines. Ed. Jeremy MacClancy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. 167-189.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Deconstructing the Notion of ‘Education’: A View from West Africa." Research in International Education: Experience, Theory and Practice. Ed. Liora Bresler and Alexandre Ardichvili. New York/Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2002. 83-101.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Luring Your Child into this Life: A Beng Path for Infant Care (Côte d’Ivoire)." A World of Babies: Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies. Ed. Judy DeLoache and Alma Gottlieb. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 55-89.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "If Dr. Spock Were Born in Bali: Raising a World of Babies." A World of Babies: Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies. Ed. Judy DeLoache and Alma Gottlieb. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 1-27.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Où sont partis tous les bébés? Pour une anthropologies du nourisson [Where Have All the Babies Gone? Toward an Anthropology of Infants]." En substances: Systèmes, critiques et symboliques -- Textes pour Françoise Héritier. Ed. Emmanuel Terray and Jean-Luc Janard. Paris: Favard, 2000. 367-385.
  • Gottlieb, Alma, and Bertin Kouadio. "Peoples and Cultures of Ivory Coast." Encyclopedia of Sub-Saharan Africa. Ed. John Middleton. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Blood." The Blackwell Dictionary of Anthropology. Ed. Thomas Barfield. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997. 41-42.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Blood Pacts/Blood Covenants." The Blackwell Dictionary of Anthropology. Ed. Thomas Barfield. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997. 42-43.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Menstruation." The Blackwell Dictionary of Anthropology. Ed. Thomas J. Barfield. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997. 320-321.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Rethinking Female Pollution: The Beng Case." Beyond the Second Sex: New Directions in the Anthropology of Gender. Ed. Peggy Sanday and Ruth Goodenough. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania PRess, 1990. 113-138.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Witches, Kings, and the Sacrifice of Identity; or, The Power of Paradox and the Paradox of Power among the Beng of Ivory Coast." Creativity of Power: Cosmology and Action in African Societies. Ed. W. Arens and Ivan Karp. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. 245-272.
  • Gottlieb, Alma, and Thomas Buckley. "A Critical Appraisal of Theories of Menstrual Symbolism." Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation. Ed. Thomas Buckley and Alma Gottlieb. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. 1-50.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Menstrual Cosmology among the Beng of Ivory Coast." Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation. Ed. Thomas Buckley and Alma Gottlieb. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. 55-74.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Claude Lévi-Strauss." Book of Days 1988: An Encyclopedia of Resource Guides on Historical Figures and Events. Ann Arbor: Pieria Press, 1988. 658-660.

Journal Articles

  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Knowing Ed Bruner." Anthropology and Humanism 30.2 (2006): 196-200.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Babies' Baths, Babies' Remembrances: A Beng Theory of Development, History and Memory." Africa 75.1 (2005): 105-118.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "The Afterlife Is Where We Come from: Infancy in West Africa." Expeditions 41.4 (2004): 381-390.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Secrets and Society: The Beng of Côte d'Ivoire." Mande Studies 1.2 (2000): 129-151.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Where Have All the Babies Gone? Toward an Anthropology of Infants (and Their Caretakers)." Anthropological Quarterly 73.3 (2000): 121-132.
  • Gottlieb, Alma, and Phillip Graham. "Revising the Text, Revisioning the Field: Reciprocity over the Long Term." Anthropology and Humanism 24.2 (1999): 117-128.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Do Infants Have Religion? The Spiritual Lives of Beng Babies." American Anthropologist 100.1 (1998): 122-135.
  • Gottlieb, Alma, Judy S. DeLoache, Sophia L. Pierrpitsakos, David H. Uttal, and Karl S. Rosengren. "Grasping the Nature of Pictures." Psychological Science 9.3 (1998): 205-210.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Infants, Ancestors and the Afterlife: Fieldwork's Family Values." Anthropology and Humanism 23.2 (1998): 121-126.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Fabrication d'un Premier Dictionnaire de la Langue Beng : Quelques Considérations éthiques [Construction of a First Dictionary of the Beng Language: Some Ethical Considerations]." Journal des Anthropologues 70 (1997): 147-162.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Beyond the Lonely Anthropologist: Collaboration in Research and Writing." American Anthropologist 97.1 (1995): 21-26.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Of Cowries and Crying: A Beng Guide to Managing Colic." Anthropology and Humanism 20.1 (1995): 20-28.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "The Anthropologist as Mother: Reflections on Childbirth Observed and Childbirth Experienced." Anthropology Today 11.6 (1995): 10-14.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Hyenas and Heteroglossia: Myth and Ritual among the Beng of Côte d'Ivoire." American Ethnologist 16.3 (1989): 487-451.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Rethinking Female Pollution: The Beng Case (Côte d'Ivoire)." Dialectical Anthropology 14.2 (1989): 65-80.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "American Premenstrual Syndrome: A Mute Voice." Anthropology Today 6 (1988): 10-13.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Cousin Marriage, Birth Order and Gender: Alliance Models among the Beng of Ivory Coast." Man 21.4 (1986): 697-722.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Dog: Ally or Traitor? Mythology, Cosmology and Society among the Beng of Ivory Coast." American Ethnologist 13.3 (1986): 477-488.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Stalking the Wild Symbol: Reflections on Sperber and Structuralism." Anthropology UCLA 13 (1984): 61-70.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "American's Vacations." Annals of Tourism Research IX 2 (1982): 165-187.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "Sex, Fertility and Menstruation among the Beng of the Ivory Coast: A Symbolic Analysis." Africa 52.4 (1982): 34-47.
  • Gottlieb, Alma. "The Social Theories of Fustel and Durkheim: Toward an Analysis of a Neglected Relationship." Anthropology III.1-2 (1979): 139-153.

Grants

2006 National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Faculty Award. For new fieldwork project among Cape Verdean immigrants in Lisbon, summer 2006.; 1999 Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. For writing of The Afterlife Is Where We Come from: Infants and Infant Care Practices in West Africa. January 1999 - December 1999; 1996 Summer Faculty Award, National Endowment for the Humanities. For writing of The Afterlife Is Where We Come from: Infants and Infant Care in West Africa; 1993 Small Grant, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. For fieldwork on Beng infants, summer 1993. ; 1992-93 Fellowship for University Teachers, National Endowment for the Humanities, To research a new project on cultural constructions of Beng infancy, AY 1992-93. Release from two semesters of teaching plus fieldwork funds; 1991 Summer Faculty Award, National Endowment for the Humanities. For writing of Parallel Worlds (co-authored with Philip Graham).; 1985 Faculty Fellowship, Travel to Collections Program, National Endowment for the Humanities. To conduct research in the French National Archives (Overseas Section, Paris) on colonial-era Beng society, summer 1985.; 1982-83 Dissertation Grant in Women's Studies, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. For writing of dissertation, AY 1982-83.; 1982-83 Constance L. Tomkies Endowed Fellowship, American Association of University Women. For writing of dissertation, AY 1982-83. ; 1979-81 International Doctoral Research Fellowship, Africa Program, Social Science Research Council. For fourteen months of doctoral fieldwork among the Beng of Ivory Coast and six months of dissertation write-up, Sept. 1979 – May 1981.