Deborah Thomas
R. Jean Brownlee Term Professor
A professor of anthropology, Thomas is a distinguished scholar of political anthropology, globalization, race and gender. She serves as editor-in-chief of the American Anthropological Association’s flagship journal, American Anthropologist. She has authored and co-produced a number of books and films, including the books Exceptional Violence: Embodied Citizenship in Transnational Jamaica and Modern Blackness: Nationalism, Globalization, and the Politics of Culture in Jamaica, and the film Bad Friday: Rastafari After Coral Gardens. Her forthcoming film, Four Days in May, explores the archives generated by state violence by focusing on the 2010 State of Emergency in West Kingston, Jamaica.
Thomas has served as chair of the Anthropology Graduate Group, as a member of the Penn Arts & Sciences Strategic Plan Committee on Graduate Education, a member of the University Faculty Senate, and a member of the Faculty Advisory Board of the Trustees Council of Penn Women.
About the Donor
McLean Contributionship
The R. Jean Brownlee Endowed Term Chair was established by the McLean Contributionship under the direction of the late William L. McLean, III and his wife.
