Laurel Kendall, Curator, Division of Anthropology

Laurel Kendall, an anthropologist who specializes in Korean cultural studies, has written extensively on shamanism, issues of gender, and, more recently, the cultural constructions of "tradition" and "modernity." She was project director for the Museum's centenary celebration of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition in 1997, which included the exhibition Drawing Shadows to Stone: Photographing North Pacific Peoples, 1897-1902 (1997-1998) and was recently the Museum's curator for the exhibition Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion (2001-2002). In addition to her work at the American Museum of Natural History, she is currently Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, and a member of the doctoral faculty, Program in Anthropology, The Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. Dr. Kendall received her Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University. Recent books include Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit (2003), Under Construction: The Gendering of Modernity, Class, and Construction in the Republic of Korea (2001), Getting Married in Korea: Of Gender, Morality, and Modernity (1996), The Life and Hard Times of a Korean Shaman: Tales and the Telling of Tales (1988), and Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits: Women in Korean Ritual Life (1985).

Read an interview with Curator Laurel Kendall >>