Robert Thomas O'Brien

120 S. Adelaide Avenue, 1B

Highland Park, NJ 08904
(215) 704-8938
robert.t.obrien@gmail.com

Education:
1999 - Present Temple University, PhD Candidate, PhD Program in Anthropology
Dissertation Defense: Fall 2011

Dissertation: The Team for the Cure: Public Policy, Biopower, and Structural Violence in
Philadelphia
Chair: Dr. Paul Garrett, Temple University, Department of Anthropology
Committee: Dr. Mindie Lazarus-Black, Temple University, Department of Anthropology
Dr. Kathy Walker, Temple University, Department of History
Dr. Elmer Miller, Temple University, Department of Anthropology

1996 - 1997 City University of New York, Graduate School and University Center
1996 Temple University, BA – Summa Cum Laude, University Honors, Phi Beta
Kappa
1994 Community College of Philadelphia, AA – Summa Cum Laude, Phi Theta
Kappa

Research and Teaching Experience:

Spring 2007 – Present Assistant Instructor
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, Department of Anthropology
Courses Taught:
Anthropology 100 Introduction to Anthropology: A Four-field Approach to the Study of
Human Diversity and the “Race” Concept (Summer 2007)
Anthropology 101 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Fall 2008)
Anthropology 216 Modern Problems: Health and Human Rights (Spring 2007, Summer
2008)
Anthropology 216 Modern Problems: Illegal Immigration (Fall 2007)
Anthropology 216 Anthropology of Contemporary Issues: Social Networks and Power in
the Digital Era (Fall 2009)
Anthropology 216 Anthropology of Contemporary Issues: The War on Drugs (Fall 2010)
Anthropology 222 Sexuality and Eroticism in Global Perspective (Summer 2007, Spring
2008, Summer 2010, Fall 2010)
Anthropology 225 Gender in Global Perspective (Fall 2010)
Anthropology 250 Anthropology of the Contemporary United States: Why the Suburbs
Aren’t Normal (Spring 2009)
Anthropology 250 Anthropology of the Contemporary United States: Life in the Imperial
Homeland (Spring 2010)
Anthropology 305 Anthropology of Development (Spring 2007. Spring 2008)
Anthropology 307 Medical Anthropology (Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009,
Spring 2011)
Anthropology 317 Methods and Analysis in Cultural Anthropology (Spring 2009)
 Anthropology 320 Diaspora, Multiculturalism, and Ethnicity in the US (Summer 2007, Fall
2009)
Anthropology 368 Anthropology of Mass Media: Virtual Worlds, Social Networks, and
Power in the Digital Era (Spring 2011)
Anthropology 372 Anthropology of the Body (Spring 2010)
Women’s Studies 278/Anthropology 378 Anthropology of Gender (Summer 2007, Fall
2007)

Honors Theses and Independent Studies Supervised

Blaire Caldwell Rodriguez Art among the Pokagon Potawatomi (2010-2011), Honors Thesis
– High Honors; Second Place, Rutgers Anthropology Department
Senior Thesis Competition
Nila Csapa Transgender and Health (2010-2011), Honors Thesis, Second
Reader
Miriam Zander “In My Language”: Where Thought Becomes Language (2010-
2011), Honors Thesis in English, Second Reader
Kate Maley Complicating Life: Experiences of Infertility and Assisted
Reproductive Technologies (2009-2010), Honors Thesis –
Highest Honors, Honorable Mention, Anthropology Department
Senior Thesis Competition
Kristina Centore Home-Given Tattoos in American Youth Culture (Spring 2010),
Independent Study
Anna Sherman Education in the Neoliberal US (Spring 2010), Independent
Study
Amanda Blaicher Sexuality and Embodiment (Spring 2010), Independent Study
Julia Dranov Enculturated bodies/Embodied culture: Gender and ethnicity as
performed in belly dance (2008-2009), Honors Thesis – Honors
Emily Brickner Group Fantasies and Singular Realities in Exotic Dance: Work
and Intimacy (2008-2009), Honors Thesis – High Honors
Oscar Villareal Nationalism and Ethnic Identity Among Afro-Colombian
Migrants to New Jersey (2007-2008), Independent Study

Winter 2003 – Fall 2007 Adjunct Professor

Drexel University, Department of Culture and Communications
Courses Taught:
Anthropology 101 Introduction to Anthropology: Cultural Diversity (Summer 2004, Winter
2007, Fall 2008)
Anthropology 110 Human Past: An Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Prehistoric
Archaeology (Summer 2006, Fall 2006, Fall 2007)
Anthropology 210 Worldviews: Science, Magic, and Religion (Summer 2004, Summer 2005)
Women’s Studies 280/Anthropology 380 Anthropological Perspectives on Violence
(Winter 2007)
Sociology 101 Introduction to Sociology (Spring 2004, Fall 2005, Winter 2006, Spring
2006, Fall 2006)
Sociology 115 Social Problems (Fall 2005)
Sociology 210 Race and Ethnic Relations (Summer 2006)
Sociology 260 WI Classical Social Theory – Writing Intensive (Spring 2006)
Sociology 330 Developing Nations: International Division of Labor (Winter 2003)
 Sociology 350 Research Methods II (Summer 2006)

Fall 2007 Adjunct Professor

Widener University, University College
Anthropology 105 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, AP Course

Fall 1999 – Fall 2006 Adjunct Instructor, Fall 2003-Fall 2006

Teaching Assistant (Stand-alone courses), Fall 1999-Spring 2003
Temple University Department of Anthropology
Courses Taught:
Anthropology C064 American Culture (Spring 1999, Spring 2002)
Anthropology C061 Cultures of the World (Fall 1999, Fall 2002, Spring 2006, Spring 2007)
Anthropology H091 Cultures of the World, Honors (Fall 2002, Fall 2003, Spring 2004, Fall
2004, Spring 2005, Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2006)
Anthropology R060 Introduction to Anthropology: A Four-Field Integrated Approach to Race
and Racism (Fall 2003, Summer 2004, Spring 2007)
Anthropology W120 Fundamentals of Cultural Anthropology – Writing Intensive (Summer
2002, Fall 2006)
Urban Education 211/Anthropology 211 Service Learning and Social Change (Summer 2001)
Anthropology 212 Medical Anthropology (Spring 2005)
Anthropology 215 Anthropology of Social Policy (Summer 2006)
Anthropology 310 Field Methods in Ethnography (Fall 2001)
Anthropology 355 Gender Theory in Anthropology (Summer 2000)

Independent Study Courses:

William Wacker Space, Place, Identity, and Power (Spring 2004)
Amy Reed Critical Anthropological Approaches to Human Rights (Fall 2003)

Summer 2001 Instructor, YouthWORKS, School District of Philadelphia

Summer Service Learning Program, Mastbaum High School
Spring 2001 - Fall 2003 Lead Instructor (Guest Instructor 2003) Project TEACH
HIV/AIDS Community Education Program
Fall 1999 - Spring 2002 Trainer, Streetside Health Clinic
Medical Students’ Orientation
Summer 2001 Ethnographer
New Kensington Community Development Corporation
2000 - 2001 Ethnographer
Civic Participation in Three Neighborhoods, Judith Goode and Susan
Hyatt, PIs
1996 - 1997 Ethnographer
New York Academy of Medicine, Center for Urban Ethnographic Studies,
Ezra Susser, PI
1994-1996 Academic Advisor, University Honors
Temple University
Honors and Awards:
2011 Departmental Nominee, Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences Teaching Award
2006 Carrie Hunter-Tate Award (for academic and professional achievement),
National Association of Student Anthropologists
2005 Temple University College of Liberal Arts Travel Grant
2004 - 2005 Temple Society of Fellows in the Humanities Graduate Associateship
2004 Temple University College of Liberal Arts Travel Grant
2004 Society for the Anthropology of North America Student Travel Grant
2003 Dissertation Research Improvement Grant - National Science Foundation
2001 Fels Foundation Summer Intern, New Kensington Community Development
Corporation
2000 - 2003 University Fellow - Temple University
2000 Research Experience for Graduates Grant - National Science Foundation

Publications:
2006 Unemployment and Disposable Workers in Philadelphia: Just How Far Have the Bastards
Gone? Ethnos, 71:2.
2006 Whose Social Capital? How Economic Development Projects Disrupt Local Social
Relations. With Judith Goode in Social Capital in the City: Community and Civic Life in
Philadelphia. Richardson Dilworth, Editor. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Professional Presentations:
2009 Co-Organizer and Discussant, When the Ends Require the Means: The Intersection of
Ethnographic Methods and Critical Theory in Undergraduate Research. Invited Session. 107 th
Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
2009 Co-Organizer, Rethinking the Cultural Politics of Categorization: Refocusing Gazes on
Racialization. 107th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia,
PA.
2009 Possessive Individuals and the Retrenchment of Whiteness. Paper Presented at the 107 th Annual
Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
2009 Invited Speaker, High Table Discussion: Green Jobs and the Obama Administration. 107 th Annual
Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
2007 Chair’s Seminar: The Contentious A’s of Public Anthropology. Department of Anthropology,
Rutgers University.
2007 Co-Organizer, Careers in the Anthropology of Work: Choices, Constraints, and Challenges,
Roundtable discussion and reception, 106 th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological
Association, Washington, DC.
2006 Invited Speaker, High Table Discussion: On Labor Issues: Organizing Service Workers in an Era of
Globalization. 105th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in San Jose,
CA.
2006 Panelist, AAA Labor Relations Commission Roundtable. 105 th Annual Meeting of the American
Anthropological Association in San Jose, CA.
2006 Whosetown, USA: Neighborhood Imperialism and the Reconfiguration of Whiteness in
Philadelphia. Paper presented at the 105 th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological
Association in San Jose, CA.
2006 Co-Organizer, Race, Gender, and Nation in the Imperial US: Reconfigurations of Power in the
Local and Global. 105th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in San Jose,
CA.
2006 Organizer, The Anthropology of 'The Real Thing': Developing an Activist Research Agenda for
Corporate Globalization. Invited Session. 105 th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological
Association in San Jose, CA.
2006 Invited Speaker, Safe Streets? Gentrification, Policing, and Access to Behavioral Healthcare,
 Social Science Perspectives on Health Care: Disparities in the United States, Temple University
College of Liberal Arts, March 25, 2006.
2005 Necessary but Insufficient: A Critical Analysis of Public Anthropologies. Paper presented at the
Presidential Session, History, Current Practices and Prospects for Organized Labor: The
Anthropology of Unions. 104th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in
Washington, DC
2005 Panelist, AAA Public Policy Forum on Organized Labor. 104th Annual Meeting of the American
Anthropological Association in Washington, DC.
2005 (Still) Threatening Anthropology? Research and Teaching in the Era of the Academic Bill of
Rights. Paper presented at the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological
Association in Washington, DC.
2005 Panelist, Public Intellectuals and Working-Class Struggles: Where do we go from here?
A Dialogue Between Academics and Activists Roundtable. The Seventh Biennial Conference of
the Center for Working Class Studies in Youngstown, OH.
2005 Session Organizer and Chair, New Imperialisms or New Crises of Global Capitalism: A Theory,
History, Ethnography of the Translocal, Part II. Society for the Anthropology of North
America/CASCA/UADY Translocality Conference in Mérida, Mexico.
2005 Worker, White Trash, Junkie, Whore: Local Bodies, Global Capitalism. Paper presented at the
Society for the Anthropology of North America/CASCA/UADY Translocality Conference in
Mérida, Mexico.
2005 Discussant. Urban Decay, Possibilities of Recovery and Uncertain Futures: The Aftermath of
Deindustrialization in Flint, Michigan. Paper Session, Society for the Anthropology of North
America/CASCA/UADY Translocality Conference in Mérida, Mexico.
2005 Participant. Anthropology and Labour, Part II: Roundtable and Open Forum: An Ethical Labour
Politics for Professional Organizations. Society for the Anthropology of North
America/CASCA/UADY Translocality Conference in Mérida, Mexico.
2004 Why Johnnie Went to the CRC: Operation Safe Streets and the Effects of Criminalization in
Philadelphia. Paper presented at the Society for the Anthropology of North America/AES
Conference in Atlanta, GA.
2004 Whose Social Capital? How Economic Development Projects Disrupt Local Social Relations.
Paper presented with Judith Goode at the 34 th Annual Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association,
in Washington, DC.
2003 Invited Speaker, “HIV/AIDS in Prison” AIDS in the Media Symposium, The Symposium targeted
12 influential journalists in both the mainstream and African-American press from the
Philadelphia-area media, Center for AIDS Research, University of Pennsylvania
2003 Invited Speaker, An Anthropologist in the Crisis Response Center: A Critical Approach to Cultural
Competence. Grand Rounds presentation for the Department of Psychiatry, Temple University.
2002 Invited Speaker, Culture, Harm Reduction, and Law. CLE Presentation for the AIDS Treatment
Access Symposium, Beasley School of Law, Temple University
2002 Invited Speaker, Civic House Education Series, University of Pennsylvania
2002 Session Organizer and Chair, Anthropology and Activism: A Critical Dialogue Between Engaged
Anthropologists and Local Activists. Society for the Anthropology of North America/CASCA
Conference in Windsor, ON.
2002 Walking the (Picket) Line: Using (Or Abusing?) Ethnography for Anti-Poverty Research and
Organizing. Paper presented at the Society for the Anthropology of North America/CASCA
Conference in Windsor, ON.
2001 Civil Society and its Discontents: Constructions of “Community” and the Struggle Against
Structural Violence. Paper presented at the 100th Annual Meeting of the American
 Anthropological Association in Washington, DC.
2000 Shifting the Blame: Poverty, Drug Use, and Neighborhood Action. Paper presented at the 99th
Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in San Francisco, CA.
1999 Shifting the Blame: Poverty, Drug Use, and Neighborhood Action. Paper presented at the 122nd
Annual Meeting of the American Ethnological Society in Tampa, FL.

Academic Service and Service to the Profession:

2010-2011 LGBT Liaison, Rutgers University
2005-2008 Appointed Member, Labor Relations Commission, American Anthropological
Association
2004-2007 Student At-Large Representative, Executive Board, Society for the Anthropology
of Work
Spring 2005 Co-Organizer, Building Bridges, Building Community.
Undergraduate/Community Urban Research Conference, Temple University
October 2001 Organizer and Presenter AIDS 411: Information We Need to Live, a 3-day
conference on HIV/AIDS, Temple University
2000 - 2001 Steering Committee, Temple University Graduate Students’
Association/American Federation of Teachers (TUGSA/AFT)

Community Service:
2004 - 2006 Volunteer, Catholic Worker Free Clinic, Philadelphia
2002 - 2003 Member, AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) Working Group, AIDS
Treatment Activist Coalition (ATAC)
2001 - 2003 Co-Founder and Steering Committee Member, Philadelphia County Coalition for
Prison Health Care
2001 - 2004 Board of Directors, Prevention Point Philadelphia

Affiliations:
1996 Phi Beta Kappa - Temple University
1994 Phi Theta Kappa - Community College of Philadelphia

Other Work Experience

1999 - 2000 Executive Director
Prevention Point Philadelphia
1997 - 1998 Program Coordinator, After-School and Summer Day Camp
Assessment and Treatment Alternatives (ATA)
1987 - 1992 Co-Director, Assistant Director/Grassroots Organizer
Greenpeace - Philadelphia, Orlando, Cincinnati