Eric McGuckin

Office

Education

Ph.D. Anthropology, City University of New York

Academic Interests

Following interdisciplinary training in anthropology including religious studies, politicaI-economy, and archeology, I conducted two years of ethnographic research in India, Nepal, and Tibet in the 1990’s. My dissertation focused on the impacts of tourism and globalization on Tibetan artistic and religious culture. While tourism, Tibetan exiles, and global politics have been the main subjects of my academic writing, since joining the faculty at Sonoma State, I have been primarily dedicated to teaching and advising. The Hutchins School has afforded me the opportunity to develop coursework in a broad range of subjects that interest me, much of it outside my academic “discipline.” Having co-taught a exhilarating summer course in Paris with my colleague, Mutombo M’Panya, I am currently working to develop a regularly offered program there, focusing on my interests in the rise of “bohemian” and “counter culture” art, politics, and lifestyles. My primary goal is to help students explore a broad range of subjects, and develop expertise in areas that offer them both professional reward and personal meaning.

Selected Publications & Presentations

2008 “Conspicuous Experience: Extreme Travel and Competitive Leisure in the 21st Century,” In Loisir et Liberté en Amerique du Nord, Pierre Lagayette, ed., pp. 187-194. Paris: University of Paris Press.
2005 “Traveling Paradigms: Marxism, Poststructuralism, and the Uses of Theory“ Anthropologica: Journal of the Canadian Anthropology Association47(1): 67-79.
2002 “A World to Win? The Communist Manifesto in the Postmodern Canon,” In Universality and History: Foundations of Core, Thompson and Colson, eds., pp. 27-33. University Press of America.
1997 “Tibetan Carpets: From Folk Art to Global Commodity.” Journal of Material Culture 2(3): 291-310.
1996 “Serious Fun in Shangri-La: Gender, Tourism, and Ethnic Relations in a Tibetan Refugee Settlement,” In Anthropology for a Small Planet, A. Marcus, ed., pp. 92- 109. New York: Brandywine.