Paul Stoller

Paul Stoller is Professor of Anthropology at West Chester University. He has been conducting anthropological research for 30 years. His early work concerned the religion of the Songhay people who live in the Republics of Niger and Mali in West Africa. In that work, he focused primarily on magic, sorcery and spirit possession practices. Since 1992, Stoller has pursued studies of West African immigrants in New York City. Those studies have concerned such topics as the cultural dynamics of informal market economies and the politics of immigration. This extensive record of research has led Stoller read and think deeply about the anthropology of religion, visual anthropology, the anthropology of senses and economic anthropology. In his most recent work, Stoller has focused on the dynamics of wellbeing in the world. Stoller’s work has resulted in the publication of 11 books, including ethnographies, biographies, memoirs as well as two novels.

In 1994 he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. In 2002, the American Anthropological Association named him the recipient of the Robert B. Textor Award for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology. During the past two years, Stoller has blogged regularly on culture, politics, media and education for The Huffington Post. In 2013 The Swedish Society of Anthropology and Geography awarded him the Anders Retzius Gold Medal in recognition of his scientific contributions to anthropology. His forthcoming book, Yaya’s Story: The Quest for Wellbeing in the World will be published in September 2014.