Susan (Sue) D. Russell Professor Dept. of Anthropology srussell@niu.edu

Personal Statement:

 Growing up in a small town in Illinois, I think I began dreaming of international travel as early as the fifth grade when I wanted to become an oceanographer/marine biologist, or maybe a novelist.  My parents periodically had guests who were from other countries, and I wanted to see the rest of the world.  In my last year of high school, I took a course in world history that introduced me to the vast sweep of humanity’s origins by beginning with an overview of human evolution.  Learning about human evolution was the most exciting thing I had yet discovered, and so I decided to major in anthropology at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.  My undergraduate years focused on a major in anthropology, specifically physical anthropology, with a minor in philosophy, psychology and literature. 

In graduate school at the same university, I switched gears and focused on cultural anthropology, with an emphasis on Oceania, or the Pacific island region.  For my M.A., I spent three months in Micronesia, mostly on Majuro, Marshall Islands, in the Trust Territory of the Pacific, studying ethnicity and the merging of traditional and democratic politics.  It was the first trip outside of the U.S. that I ever took, and it was so exciting.

When it came time for my Ph.D. research, I switched gears again to write a Ph.D. proposal on the Philippines.  I did a two-year study of entrepreneurship, ethnic differences, and all kinds of ritual and social issues among the indigenous peoples in Benguet and Mountain Province in highland Luzon.  After that, I wrote my thesis, taught here and there, and then did a two year post-doctoral study on international and rural development in the Philippines at the School of Economics, University of the Philippines.  That experience taught me the value of interdisciplinary perspectives, and of broadening your research venues.  I worked with people in Manila slums and learned how very poor people manage to survive in the urban environment.

Since then, I’ve worked with fishing communities in Thailand and the Philippines.  I also had the great opportunity to direct a field school in Maui with a focus on the different ethnic communities that comprise our rich heritage of Asian American and Pacific cultures in the U.S.  Later (1999-2005), I had the fun of being director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and learned even more about what a great resource this program offers for students. 

Grants and Research Interests:

My most recent passion is working in Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, on training programs with Muslim and Christian youth and adults, focused on inter-ethnic dialogue and conflict resolution.  This region has seen a lot of violence over the years, yet it is important to compare and learn about U.S. and Philippine challenges with these issues.  These projects are funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, and have been collaborative partnerships with dedicated colleagues in the Philippines and here at Northern Illinois University, as well as with our American community who help host these visitors.  I hope to get more students involved in issues of peace-related research and training in the future, as I think that is an important role for National Resource Centers like the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.  My specific research interests in this area focus on indigenous forms of conflict resolution among the indigenous ethnic groups, both Muslim and non-Muslim. 

Over the years I have had research grants from Fulbright-Hays and the National Science Foundation for field research.  I also have had interdisciplinary, institutional grants from the Title VI program of the U.S. Department of Education, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, the National Security Education Program of the U.S. Department of Defense, and the Illinois Humanities Council.

Teaching Interests:

I regularly teach these courses:

Anth 363 International Relations in Anthropological Perspective

Anth 407 Peoples and Cultures of Insular Southeast Asia

Anth 427 Economic Anthropology

Anth 220  Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Link to homepage (to learn more about my projects, and to view a full vita):
www.seasite.niu.edu/russell