Anthropologist Alisse Waterston to speak at MTSU Oct. 9

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology will host renowned anthropologist and author Alisse Waterston as speaker for the Anthropologica for Fall lecture at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, in Room 160 of the College of Education Building.

Theme for the lecture is “Writing to be Read: Crafting and Communicating Knowledge as if the World Depends Upon It.”

Waterston will explore how storytelling and art can work hand-in-hand with anthropology.

The lecture will focus on Waterston’s use of intimate ethnography and graphic storytelling to present anthropological research to wider audiences. She will also address the relevance and impact of public scholarship in the context of ongoing political, economic and military conflict.

Waterston, presidential scholar and professor emerita at City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, is known for her work examining the human consequences of structural and systemic violence and inequity.

Cover of “My Father’s Wars: Migration, Memory, and the Violence of a Century,” by Alisse Waterston.

She is the author or editor of seven books, including the award-winning, “My Father’s Wars: Migration, Memory, and the Violence of a Century” — now in its 10th anniversary edition — and “Light in Dark Times: The Human Search for Meaning,” a graphic novel illustrated by Charlotte Corden.

In addition to her scholarship, Waterston is a Fellow of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies in the Programmes in Transnational Processes, Structural Violence and Inequality. She served as president of the American Anthropological Association from 2015 to 2017.

To learn more about the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, visit https://soc.mtsu.edu/.

The lecture is free and open to the public. The College of Education is located at 1756 MTSU Blvd.

Off-campus visitors must obtain a temporary permit from the Parking and Transportation Services office at 205 City View Drive or pay by plate by visiting https://bit.ly/mtvisitorparking. Parking is available in the Bragg and Honors lots. A searchable campus parking map is available at https://bit.ly/ParkingMapMTSU2025.

— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)