Asif Agha
Francis E. Johnston Term Professor
Asif Agha, Professor of Anthropology, is the Francis E. Johnston Term Professor. Agha is a leading linguistic anthropologist whose research examines the structure and organization of human language and its use in human affairs, as well as the role of language use and communication in giving rise to forms of social organization. His book Language and Social Relations received the Edward Sapir Prize for best book in linguistic anthropology.
Agha currently serves as President of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology within the American Anthropological Association, as editor of the journal Signs and Society, and as past editor of the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. He has also served on the Penn Arts and Sciences Planning and Priorities Committee and the Committee on Undergraduate Education.
About the Donor
G. Frederick Roll, W’34
This professorship was established through the bequest of G. Frederick Roll, W’34 and is named in honor of Francis E. Johnston, a biological anthropologist and an emeritus professor of anthropology at Penn.