Laurel George
I received my Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Rice University in 2002. My primary research addresses the evolution of funding for U.S. choreography and the life and career narratives of experimental artists. I have conducted fieldwork in not-for-profit artist organizations as well as at the National Endowment for the Arts, where I also served as a Dance Program Specialist. My work on dance and cultural politics appears in the volume Corporate Futures (1998) and in the journal Terrain (2000).
My current project considers the constellation of personal and professional traits deemed necessary for success in the context of global markets and the New Economy. Specifically, I look at how the resourcefulness and flexibility demonstrated by choreographers in the design and marketing of their creative projects echo and provide models for contingent workers in more mainstream domains.
Issues of class identity, career strategies and organizational forms under late capitalism are also central to my research and teaching. I am currently an adjunct assistant professor of anthropology at St. John's University and a staff anthropologist for the New York City-based research firm The Insight Works, Inc.
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