Katherine Pratt Ewing

Katherine Pratt Ewing
Name	Katherine Pratt Ewing
Occupation	Anthropologist, Ethnographer, Professor
Known for	Studies of Iranian, Central Asian, and diaspora communities; ritual, migration, identity

Katherine Pratt Ewing is an American anthropologist and ethnographer known for long-term fieldwork on Iranian, Central Asian, and diaspora communities, and for contributions to studies of ritual, identity, migration, and cultural memory. She has held faculty and research positions at major universities and research centers, collaborated with scholars across humanities and social sciences, and written influential monographs and edited volumes that intersect with studies of Islam, nationalism, and transnationalism. Her work engages comparative frameworks linking local practice to global processes and public culture.

Early life and education

Ewing completed undergraduate and graduate training in anthropology and related fields at institutions that shaped her scholarly trajectory, including programs associated with Harvard University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley. Her doctoral research involved fieldwork in Iran and Central Asia, drawing on traditions of ethnographic scholarship exemplified by figures such as Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner, Marshall Sahlins, and Pierre Bourdieu. During graduate study she engaged archives and libraries connected to collections at the Library of Congress, the British Museum, and area studies centers like the Middle East Institute and the Center for Contemporary Middle East Studies.

Academic career

Ewing has held appointments and visiting positions at universities and institutes across North America, Europe, and Asia, including faculties associated with Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Michigan, and research centers such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, and the School of Oriental and African Studies. She has taught courses that intersect with departments and programs including Near Eastern Studies, Anthropology Department, Religious Studies Program, and interdisciplinary units like the Program in International and Area Studies. Her professional trajectory includes roles at public humanities venues like the Guggenheim Museum and collaborations with policy-oriented organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank on migration and cultural heritage issues.

Research and contributions

Ewing’s scholarship examines ritual practice, performance, and memory among Shiʿi and other Muslim communities, and explores migration, diaspora, and identity formation in transnational contexts. She has advanced analysis of pilgrimage, mourning rituals, and public commemorations by relating ethnographic data to theoretical conversations involving scholars like Erving Goffman, Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Benedict Anderson, and Arjun Appadurai. Her comparative approach connects case studies from Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and diasporic communities in United States, United Kingdom, and Canada to global debates about secularism, nationalism, and cultural politics. Ewing’s work engages material culture, visual media, and archival sources, aligning with research traditions evident in the writings of Sibel Bozdoğan, Talal Asad, Said Amir Arjomand, and Catherine Bell.

She has contributed to scholarship on the politics of memory and public ritual by analyzing events linked to historical moments such as the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet Union’s collapse, and post-9/11 migration patterns, drawing connections to policy debates involving organizations like the European Union, UNESCO, and national legislatures in France and Germany. Her methodological innovations include multi-sited ethnography and collaborative projects with documentary filmmakers, photographers, and museum curators, partnering with institutions like the International Center of Photography and the Museum of Modern Art.

Major publications

Ewing is author or editor of books and numerous articles in leading journals and edited volumes. Her monographs and edited collections have appeared alongside works by scholars published by presses such as Cambridge University Press, Princeton University Press, University of California Press, Oxford University Press, and University of Chicago Press. She has contributed chapters to volumes alongside authors affiliated with Harvard University Press and journals including the American Anthropologist, Comparative Studies in Society and History, and the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Major titles address themes of mourning, pilgrimage, diaspora, and identity, and are cited in bibliographies dealing with Shiʿism, Sufism, and Central Asian studies. Her edited volumes bring together contributors from institutions such as SOAS University of London, Leiden University, University of Oxford, University of Toronto, and McGill University.

Awards and honors

Ewing’s work has received recognition through fellowships and awards from foundations and agencies including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the American Philosophical Society. She has been a fellow at research institutes such as the Institute for Advanced Study, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Honors include book prizes and citations from professional associations like the American Anthropological Association, the Middle East Studies Association, and the Association for Asian Studies.

Professional affiliations and service

Ewing has served on editorial boards and advisory committees for journals and presses including the Journal of Anthropological Research, Cultural Anthropology, and university presses. She has been active in professional organizations such as the American Anthropological Association, the Middle East Studies Association, the Association for Feminist Anthropology, and the Society for Visual Anthropology. Her public engagement includes lectures and panels at venues like the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the New School, and cultural institutions such as the Asia Society and the Penguin Random House lecture series.

Category:American anthropologists