Online Bachelor of Arts Anthropology Major, Global Studies

Dr. Aslihan Akkaya, Associate Teaching Professor of Anthropology
Her research interests lie at the intersection of anthropology of ethics, anthropology of religion, anthropology of the contemporary, and anthropology of media. Her recent work examines the rhetorical, political, and geographical displacement of certain groups in Turkey and how some Turkish citizens came up with the decision to flee their homeland for an imagined better life elsewhere. She greatly enjoys teaching and touching student’s lives in transformative ways. Her teaching philosophy can be summarized by the following quote from Socrates: “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” She adopts several teaching methods and techniques in her classes to create a very interactive classroom and foster critical thinking skills. Prof. Akkays is also an affiliated faculty member in Middle East Studies and Muslim World Studies at FIU.

Dr. Juliet Erazo, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Her research examines the history of indigenous organizing in the Ecuadorian Amazon. She looks at how it has been influenced by changing international development priorities (such as increasing exports of beef and petroleum, biodiversity protection, and involving women in development), other social movements, and the changing economic priorities and policies of the Ecuadorian government. She is particularly interested in indigenous leaders and how they are working to shift the desires, aspirations, property regimes, and land use practices of their constituents. She teaches undergraduate courses in Environmental Anthropology and World Ethnographies, where students learn how anthropological research is done and how ethnographic methods differ from other types of research.

Dr. Sarah Mahler, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Her research and publications have focused primarily on Latin American and Caribbean migration to the United States and the development of transnational ties between migrants and their home communities, particularly how transnational ties inflect gender identities and relations. She has also participated in a variety of research projects and on (im)migrants and their religious practices and ties to their homelands, (im)migrants’ political activities, faith-based and secular substance abuse programs, Central American development, and, most recently, intra-Hispanic relations in Miami. She teaches Research Methods, believing that with a sound footing in research methods and theory students can study any social phenomenon effectively and develop valuable career skills, and Introduction to Anthropology, her favorite course because she enjoys expanding students’ cultural comforts in ways that are fun, meaningful and, hopefully, lifelong.

Dr. Jean Muteba Rahier, Professor of Anthropology
His research interests include: 1) Multiculturalism, ethnoracial law, Afrodescendants’ human rights, and the courts in Latin America; 2) The memorialization of the slave trade in West Africa; and 3) Inter-racial intimacy in the Belgian Congo. From 2008-20016 he served as director of FIU’s African & African Diaspora Studies Program, and currently is director of the Observatory of Justice for Afrodescendants in Latin America. He has organized and directed study abroad programs in Senegal and The Gambia. Among the courses he regularly teaches is Myth, Rituals and Mysticism, which considers how symbols related to the supernatural world are created and structured; how they draw on and give meaning to different domains of the human world; how they are woven into politics, family life, and the life cycle; and how we can interpret them.

Dennis Wiedman, Clinical Professor of Anthropology
His research interests include medical anthropology, North American Indians, organizational culture, applied anthropology, environmental anthropology and ethnohistorical research methods. His fieldwork extends from the Miccosukee of South Florida, to the Delaware, Apache, and Cherokee of Oklahoma, and to the Inupiat of northern Alaska. He is the founder and former advisor to the Global Indigenous Forum at FIU, which works to bring global indigenous issues, voices and awareness to the FIU community through activities and academic programs,. He teaches undergraduate courses in Anthropological Theories, Research Methods, American Indian Ethnology, Native American Religions, Anthropology through Film, and Medical Anthropology.