Profile of <span>Ellen Oxfeld</span>
Office
Munroe Hall 111
Tel
(802) 443-5300
Email
oxfeld@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
Spring Term: On Academic Leave

Ellen Oxfeld’s passion for the study of China began in her northern New Jersey high school, where she took a class on Chinese and Indian history. She followed this interest during her undergraduate education at Williams College, and graduated with the intention of becoming a Chinese historian. While on a subsequent Watson Fellowship in Taiwan, Oxfeld was exposed to various anthropologists who introduced her to a new discipline which soon became the focus of her career. After spending one year in East Asia, she returned to the United States to obtain her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University.

Professor Oxfeld was offered a position at Middlebury College in 1985, immediately following her graduation from Harvard. She considers herself fortunate to have been given the opportunity to continue her studies of China while sharing her knowledge with students as a professor. She has taught a wide variety of classes, the majority of which relate to her specific interests in anthropology. These include the introductory anthropology class; Race and Ethnicity: Anthropology of China; Global Consumptions: Food, Culture and Power;and Women, Culture and Power.

Throughout her teaching career, Professor Oxfeld has continued to pursue her research interests in China. In the past, she has researched communities of Chinese immigrants in countries such as India and Canada.Since the mid-1990s, she has returned several times to do fieldwork in a village in Meixian, Guangdong Province, China, where she has investigated moral discourse, changes and continuities in life-cycle rituals,changing gender roles, transformations in property and class relations,and most recently, changes in the local food system.

Ellen Oxfeld deems that anthropology is “absolutely essential in today’s world,” for it helps us to see the world as others see it, and to understand both how we are connected to the rest of the world and yet not to expect that all cultures operate from the same sets of assumptions.

Courses Taught

Course Description

Diversity and Human Nature: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
This course introduces students to the varieties of human experience in social life and to the differing approaches and levels of analysis used by anthropologists to explain it. Topics include: culture and race, rituals and symbolism, kinship and gender roles, social evolution, political economy, and sociolinguistics. Ethnographic examples are drawn chiefly from non-Western societies, from simple bands to great agrarian states. The ultimate aim is to enable students to think critically about the bases of their own culture and about practices and beliefs previously unanalyzed and unexamined. (formerly SOAN 0103) 2 hrs. lect./1 hr. disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022

Requirements

CMP, SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Gender, Culture, and Power
This course offers a cross-cultural introduction to the issues involved in the study of women and gender. Such an endeavor raises a number of difficult and delicate issues. What explains the diversities and similarities in women's roles across societies? How do we assess women's status and power, and how do we decide which standards to use in doing so? What forces create changes in women's roles? What is the relationship between gender constructions and the nature of communities, economies, and even nations? Our analysis will concentrate on three primary domains: family and kinship, symbolic systems, and political economy. Course readings will focus primarily on non-Western societies. 3 hrs. lect./disc. (National/Transnational Feminisms)/

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2022

Requirements

CMP, SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Topics in Anthropological Theory
This course gives an introduction to some important themes in the development of anthropological thought, primarily in the past century in anglophone and francophone traditions. It emphasizes close comparative reading of selections from influential texts by authors who have shaped recent discourse within the social sciences. (SOAN 0103 or ANTH 0103 or SOAN 0107 or SOCI 0107 or SOAN 0109 or ANTH 0109 or SOAN 0159 or ANTH 0159) (formerly SOAN 0306) 3 hrs. lect.

Terms Taught

Spring 2022

Requirements

SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

The Anthropology of China
China serves as a case study in the anthropological analysis of a complex rapidly changing non-Western society. This course will be a survey of the principal institutions and ideas that form the background to modern Chinese society. Areas covered include: family and kinship, ritual, transformations of class hierarchies, and the impact of globalization. Materials will be drawn from descriptions of traditional, contemporary (including both mainland and Taiwanese settings), and overseas contexts. (formerly SOAN 0335) 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Spring 2021, Spring 2023

Requirements

HIS, NOA, SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

The Anthropology of Food
Food not only sustains bodies, but also reflects and shapes cultures, social identities, and systems of power. In this course we examine the relationship between food and culture. Beginning with an examination of the origins of cooking, we will go on to analyze a variety of approaches to understanding the food/culture/society relationship. These include the symbolic meanings of food, the role of food in constructing social and cultural identities, and the relationship between food and political and economic systems. Our examples will be cross-cultural (Africa, South and East Asia, Europe, and the Americas). 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023

Requirements

AAL, CMP, SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Race and Ethnicity Across Cultures
Ethnicity and race are social phenomena that influence group relations, as well as personal identity, in many areas of the world. But what is "ethnicity" and what is "race"? In this course we will explore the varied approaches that have been utilized to understand race and ethnicity across diverse cultural settings. No single explanation of race and ethnicity is all encompassing, and so we will explore a number of different approaches. Among the issues we will examine are: alternative explanations of ethnic and racial identity formation; the causes and consequences of ethnic violence and competition; the connections among ethnicity, gender, and class; and the processes through which distinctions between self and other are created. (formerly SOAN 0355) 3 hrs. lect./disc

Terms Taught

Fall 2021

Requirements

CMP, SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Prior to registering for ANTH 0500, a student must enlist the support of a faculty advisor from the Department of Anthropology. (Open to Majors only) (Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

One-Semester Senior Project
Under the guidance of a faculty member, a student will carry out an independent, one-semester research project, often based on original data. The student must also participate in a senior seminar that begins the first week of fall semester and meets as necessary during the rest of the year. The final product must be presented in a written report of 25-40 pages, due the last day of classes.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Multi-Semester Senior Project
Under the guidance of a faculty member, a senior will carry out an independent multi-semester research project, often based on original data. The student must also participate in a senior seminar that begins the first week of fall semester and meets as necessary during the rest of the year. The final product must be presented in a written report of 60-100 pages, due either at the end of the Winter Term or the Friday after spring break.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Multi-Semester Senior Project Part 2
A continuation of ANTH 0710, and under the guidance of a faculty member, a senior will carry out an independent multi-semester research project, often based on original data. The student must also participate in a senior seminar that begins the first week of fall semester and meets as necessary during the rest of the year. The final product must be presented in a written report of 60-100 pages, due either at the end of the Winter Term or the Friday after spring break.

Terms Taught

Winter 2024, Winter 2025

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Senior Independent Study
In this course, seniors complete an independent research or creative project on a topic pertinent to the relationship between humans and the environment. During the term prior to enrolling in ENVS 0700, a student must discuss and agree upon a project topic with a faculty advisor who is appointed in or affiliated with the Environmental Studies Program and submit a brief project proposal to the Director of Environmental Studies for Approval. The expectations and any associated final products will be defined in consultation with the faculty advisor. Students may enroll in ENVS 0700 as a one-term independent study OR up to twice as part of a multi-term project, including as a lead-up to ENVS 0701 (ES Senior Thesis) or ENVS 0703 (ES Senior Integrated Thesis). (Senior standing; Approval only)

Terms Taught

Fall 2021

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

East Asian Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Global Migration and Diaspora Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Only)

Terms Taught

Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Global Gender and Sexuality Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Only)

Terms Taught

Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Race, Capitalism, Decolonization
What does decolonization mean in the present context? What does race have to do with capitalism and profit, exploitation and dispossession? In this course we will consider the intersections of race and capitalism in shaping contemporary epistemologies, institutional practices, and lived experiences in local and global contexts. We will consider how present-day formations of race and capitalism are related to histories of imperialism and the global extraction of labour and resources. (Pass/Fail)

Terms Taught

Winter 2021

Requirements

WTR

View in Course Catalog