Contact Information

Department of Anthropology
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland  20742
Office:  301-405-1433
Email:  mpaolisso@anth.umd.edu

Major Interests

General:    Applied Anthropology, Environment and Pollution, International and Rural Development

Area:       Latin America, East Africa, Nepal, and rural Maryland

Topical:     Environmental Anthropology, Cultural Models, Methods, Gender and Development, Economic Anthropology

Degrees Awarded

Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1985, Dissertation: “Subsistence and Coffee Cultivation among the Irapa-Yukpa of Venezuela: A Cultural Ecological Investigation.”

Master of Arts in Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1978

Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1976

Professional Appointments

1997-present Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park

1990-1997 Director, Health and Social Analysis, International Center for Research on Women, Washington, D.C.

1994-1997 Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

1993  Visiting Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Smith College,  Northampton, Massachusetts

1987-1990 Staff Anthropologist, International Center for Research on Women, Washington, D.C.

1985-1987 Research Anthropologist, School of Public Health, University of California,  Los Angeles, California

Grants and Research Awards

1999 Principal Investigator (Erve Chambers, Co-PI), US Environmental Protection Agency/National Science Foundation Partnership for Environmental Research, Decision-Making and Valuation for Environmental Policy (for Applying Consensus and Cultural Models to Improve Environmental Decision-Making).  $236,000.

1999 Principal Investigator (Erve Chambers, Co-PI), National Science Foundation, Cultural Anthropology Program (for Cultural Consensus and Cultural Models of Environment on Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore).  $73,000.

1999 Co-principal Investigator (with Sonal Desai and Abusaleh Shariff ), A.W. Mellon Foundation Grant in Anthropological Demography, $60,000.

1999 National Science Foundation Supplemental Award to Support Undergraduate Research.  $6,000.

1998 Principal Investigator, (Erve Chambers, Co-PI), Maryland Sea Grant Award (for Cultural Study of Pfiesteria piscicida in Maryland). $7,000.

1998 Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation, Exploratory Research Grant, Cultural Anthropology Program (for Cultural Models of Pfiesteria piscicida on Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore). $25,000.

1997 Co-principal Investigator (with Erve Chambers),  College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park (for The Anthropology of  Pfiesteria).  $18,000.

1997 Principal Investigator, International Center for Research on Women, Promoting Women in Development Grant (for Gender and Natural Resources in Honduras), $130,000.

1994 Co-Principal Investigator (with Mayra Buvinic and Rekha Mehra), John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (for Gender and Environment in Latin America), $300,000.

1994 Co-Principal Investigator (with Mayra Buvinic and Rekha Mehra), The Compton Foundation (for Gender and Environment in Latin America), $10,000.

1993 Co-Principal Investigator (with Rekha Mehra), The Moriah Fund (for Gender and Environmental Degradation Project), $50,000.

1991 Co-Principal Investigator (with Rekha Mehra), The World Wildlife Fund (for Gender and Conservation of Biological Diversity), $25,000.

1988 Co-Principal Investigator (with Joanne Leslie and Judith Timyan), The Pew Charitable Trusts (for Health Risks for Women in Developing Countries), $85,000.

1983 Summer Research Grant, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, $1,000.

1981 Inter-American Foundation Dissertation Research Grant, $18,000.

1981 Fulbright-Hays Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Program, $12,000.

1980 Pre-dissertation Summer Research Award, $1,000.

Books and Monographs

1992 Gender and the Commercialization of Subsistence Agriculture in Nepal, with Shibesh Regmi. Washington, D.C.and Kathmandu, Nepal:  International Center for Research on Women and New ERA.

1989 Women's Work and Child Welfare in the Third World, edited with Joanne Leslie.  Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.

1988 Time Allocation among the Irapa-Yukpa, with Ross Sackett.  Human Relations Area Files Comparative Time Allocation Series.  Volume 2.  New Haven: HRAF Press.

Articles and Chapters in Books

2001 Mujeres, Agua y Lena en Honduras: Algunas Observaciones Empiricas sobre Genero y Recursos Naturales (with Aleyda Ramirez). In Esperanza Tunon Pablos (ed). Genero y Medio Ambiente en Mexico, Centroamerica y Caribe. Tabasco, Mexico: ECOSUR. Forthcoming.

2001 Gendered Responses to Agricultural Commercialization in Nepal. (with Kelly Hallman, Lawrence Haddad, and Shibesh Regmi). Economic Development and Culture Change. Forthcoming.

2001 Building a Constituency for Applied Anthropology. Practicing Anthropology. Forthcoming, Summer 2001.

2001 Culture, Politics, and Toxic Dinoflaggellate Blooms: the Anthropology of Pfiesteria. (with Erve Chambers) Human Organization 60(1): 1-12.

2001 What Can Digital Audio Data Do for You? (with R. Shawn Maloney) Field Methods 13(1):88-96.

2000 Farmer Morality and Maryland's Nutrient Management Regulations. (with R. Shawn Maloney) Culture and Agriculture 22(3): 32-39.

2000 Recognizing Farmer Environmentalism:  Nutrient Runoff and Toxic Dinoflagellate Blooms in the Chesapeake Bay Region (with R. Shawn Maloney). Human Organization 59(2): 209-221.

2000 Cultural Models of Environment and Pollution (with R. Shawn Maloney and Erve Chambers).  Anthropology News 41(2):48-9.

1999 Toxic Algal Blooms, Nutrient Runoff, and Farming on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Culture and Agriculture 21(3): 53-58.

1999 Gender and Household Level Responses to Soil Degradation in Honduras (with Sarah Gammage and Linda Casey).  Human Organization 58(3): 261-273.

1996 Energy Requirements and Dietary Energy Recommendations for Children and Adolescents 1-to-18 Years Old (with Benjamin Torun, Peter Davies, M.
         Barbara Livingstone, Ross Sackett and G.B. Spurr.).  European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, Supplement 1: 37-81.

1996 Avances de la Investigación sobre Género y Medio Ambiente.  In Margarita Veláquez, ed., Género y Ambiente in Latinoamerica.   Cuernavaca, Mexico:
         Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico.

1995 Sustainable Development and Women (with Lourdes Arizpe, Margarette Lycette, and Margarita Velasquez).  In Women in the Americas, Margaret Berger,
         ed.  Washington, D.C.:  The Inter-American Development Bank.

1994 Meeting the Changing Health Needs of Women in Developing Countries (with Joanne Leslie).  Social Science and Medicine 40: 55-65.

1994 The Influence of Reproductive Status on Rural Kenyan Women's Time Use (with M. Baksh, C. Neumann, R. Trostle and A. Jansen).  Social Science and
         Medicine 39: 345-354.

1993 Mujer y Medio Ambiente en America Latina (with Sally Yudelman).  In Despejando Horizontes: Mujeres en El Medioambiente.  Santiago, Chile:  ISIS
        Internacional.

1993 Collection of Time-Use and Labor Data:  A Commentary.  In Joachim von Braun and Detlev Puetz, eds., New Directions for Household Surveys.
         Washington, D.C.:  International Food Policy Research Institute.

1991 Behavioral Research on Household Activity Patterns, Resource Allocation and Care Practices (with Duncan Ngare and Judith Timyan)  In John Cleland and
        Allan Hill, eds., The Health Transition:  Methods and Measures.  Canberra:  Australian National University.

1990 Cultural Summary of the Yukpa of Venezuela.  In D. Price, ed., Encyclopedia of World Cultures.  Newbury Park, CA: Sage/HRAF.

1989 Women's Agricultural Labor, Child Care and Infant Diarrhea in Rural Kenya (with Michael Baksh and Jim Thomas).   In Joanne Leslie and Michael Paolisso,
         eds.,  Women's Work and Child Welfare in the Third World.  Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.

1989 Nutrition, Health and Anthropology: The Kenya Case Study.  In Constance C. McCorkle, ed., Bringing People In: Social Science in International Agricultural
        Development. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Reiner Press.

1989 Impact of Famine on Food Intake, Nutritional Status and Household Response in Embu, Kenya (with Charlotte Neumann) In T.E. Downing, ed., Drought in
        Kenya: Lessons from 1984.  Nairobi: Ford Foundation.

1985 Traditional Meat Procurement among the Irapa-Yukpa of the Venezuelan-Colombia Border Area (with Ross Sackett)  Research in Economic
         Anthropology 7: 177-199.

1983 Aboriginal Population and Depopulation: A Case Study of the Encomiendas of Merida, Venezuela.  Anthropology UCLA 13: 45-59.

Book Reviews

2000 Kess Jansen Political Ecology, Mountain Agriculture, and Knowledge in Honduras.  Journal of Political Ecology, forthcoming.

Project and Technical Reports

2000 Género y Manejo de los Recursos Naturales, Reserva Biológica El Chile, Honduras (with Aleyda Ramirez).  World Neighbors, Honduras.

2000 Gender and Natural Resource Management:  Promoting Sustainability in the El Chile Biological Reserve, Honduras.  Report-in Brief.  International Center for
         Research on Women.

1999 Gender and Natural Resource and Natural Disaster in Honduras (with Aleyda Ramirez). International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).

1999 A Study of the Cultural Models of Pfiesteria piscicida.  Report for the Maryland Sea Grant Program.

1999 Preliminary Results from Exploratory Research on Cultural Models of Pfiesteria.  Report for the National Science Foundation.

1998 Providing Emergency Contraception in Ecuador:  Assessing the Impacts of Training and Practice (with Ernesto Pinto, Maria de Lourdes Carrillo, Martha
         Yepez, Monica Arellano, Marjorie Macieira).  Washington, D.C.:  International Center for Research on Women.

1998 Proporcionando Contracepción de Emergencia en Ecuador:  Evaluando los Impactos el Entrenamiento y la Práctica (with Ernesto Pinto, Maria de Lourdes
         Carrillo, Marth Yepez, Monica Arellano, Marjorie Macieira).  Quito, Ecuador:  Centro Médico de Orientación y Planificación Familiar (CEMOPLAF).

1997 Opportunities for Creating Synergy by Focusing on Women:  Recommendations for USAID/Nepal (with Gretchen Bloom).  Washington, D.C.:  Development
         Alternatives, Inc.

1996 Taking Women into Account:  Lessons Learned from NGO Project Experiences (with Mayra Buvinic, Rekha Mehra, Charlotte Johnson-Welch, Ellen Weiss
         and Daniel Whelan).  Washington, D.C:  International Center for Research on Women.

1996 Household Response to Soil Degradation:  Gender, Poverty, and Demographic Dynamics in Honduras (with Linda Casey)  Washington, D.C:  International
         Center for Research on Women.

1996 Respuestas del Hogar Rural a la Degradación de Suelo:  Un Estudio de Caso de Género, Pobreza y la Dinámica Demográfica en Honduras (with Linda
         Casey)  Tegucigalpa, Honduras:  World Neighbors

1996 Women's Responses to Environmental Degradation:  Poverty and Demographic Constraints.  Case Studies from Latin America (with Sarah Gammage).
         Washington, D.C.:  International Center for Research on Women.

1995 Advances in Research on Gender and Environment.  Washington, DC:  International Center for Research on Women.

1995 New Directions for the Study of Women and Environmental Degradation.  Washington, D.C.:  International Center for Research on Women.

1995 Economic Anthropology and the Study of Intrahousehold Resource Allocation:  Some Methodological Lessons from Nepal.  Washington, D.C:  International
         Center for Research on Women.

1994 Sustainable Development and Women:  Management and Protection of the Environment (with Lourdes Arizpe, Margaret Lycette, Margarita Velázquez and
         Fernanda Paz).  Washington: International Center for Research on Women.

1994 Gender Differences in Child Care Practices of Adults in Nepal and Kenya.  Washington, D.C.  International Center for Research on Women.

1994 The Impact of Agricultural Commercialization on Men’s and Women’s Farm Labor:  Evidence from Nepal (with Shibesh Regmi, Lawrence Haddad and
         Bishwa Tiwari).  Washington, D.C. and Kathmandu, Nepal:  International Center for Research on Women and New ERA.

1993 Beyond Fuelwood:  New Directions for the Study of Women and Environmental Degradation.  Washington, D.C.:  International Center for Research on
         Women.

1992 Encuentro:  Mujer, Pobreza y Medio Ambiente en America Latina (with Sally Yudelman).  San Jose, Costa Rica:  Fundacion Arias para la Paz y Progreso
         Humano.

1991 Women, Poverty and the Environment in Latin America (with Sally W. Yudelman).  Washington, D.C.: International Center for Research on Women.

1989 Strengthening Women:  Health Research Priorities for Women in Developing Countries (with Joanne Leslie, Sambe Duale, Shushum Bhatia, A.W. Patterson
         and Judith Timyan).  Washington, D.C.:  International Center for Research on Women.

1983 California’s Auto Repair Industry:  An Ethnographic Study of Consumer Loss (with Paul Taylor).  Washington, D.C.:  Bureau of Consumer Affairs, Federal
         Trade Commission
 

Symposia Organized or Chaired

2000 Farming, Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs), and Pollution.  Annual Meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology.  San Francisco, California.

1999 The Cultural Study of Pfiesteria. Annual Meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology.  Tucson, Arizona.

1997 Workshop on the Anthropology of Pfiesteria.  Department of Anthropology, Resource Management and Cultural Processes track, University of Maryland,
         College Park.
 

Recent Papers Delivered and Presentations

2000 Genero y Recursos Naturales en Honduras. Presentation at final project workshop organized by Vecinos Mundiales/Honduras. Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

2000 Gender Roles, Hurricane Mitch and Environment in Honduras.  Conference on Promoting Women in Development.  International Center for Research on
         Women.  Washington, D.C.

2000 Farmer Environmentalism and Cultural Analyses of Pfiesteria.  College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware.  Wilmington, Delaware.

2000 Poultry Farming, Nutrient Runoff and Toxic Algal Blooms on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.  Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology.  San
         Francisco, California.

1999 Cultural Constructions of Environmental Problems: The Case of Pfiesteria Piscicida. Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology.  Tucson,
        Arizona

1999 Gender and Natural Resource Use in Honduras.  Center for Population, Gender and Social Inequity, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland,
        College Park.

1999 Perceptions of Pfiesteria piscicida:  Farmers, Watermen and Environmental Professionals.  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water.
        Washington, D.C.

1999 Lessons Learned from Honduras:  Community Participation in Natural Resource Management.  United States Agency for International Development, Office of
        Women in Development.  Washington, D.C.

1998 Understanding the Cultural Dimensions of Pfiesteria piscicida.  Conference on Integrating Policy and Research on Pfiesteria.  Georgetown University,
         Washington, D.C.

1998 Progress in Studying Stakeholder Response to Pfiesteria.  Department of Natural Resources, State of Maryland.  Annapolis, Maryland.

1998 Cultural Research on Pfiesteria.  University of Maryland System Wide Committee on Pfiesteria.  College Park, Maryland.

1998 Fieldwork Approaches to the Cultural Study of Pfiesteria.  Neuropsychological Diagnostic and Research Laboratory.  University of Maryland, Baltimore,
         Maryland.

1998 Natural Resource Management and Gender in Honduras.  Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology.  San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1997 The Relevance of Anthropology to the Recent Toxic Bloom of Pfiesteria piscicida.  Workshop on Anthropology of  Pfiesteria.  Resource Management and
         Cultural Process Track, Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland.  College Park, Maryland.

1996 Women's Responses to Environmental Degradation:  Poverty and Demographic Constraints.  United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Women, Population
         and Sustainable Development.  Dominican Republic.

1996 Gender, Population and Environment.  Inter-American Development Bank.  Washington, D.C.

Courses Taught

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Gender and Development
Economic Anthropology
Resource Management and Cultural Processes
Quantitative Approaches to Applied Anthropology
Cultural Ecology
Tribal and Peasant Markets
Development Anthropology
Household Demography

Professional Associations and Affiliations

American Anthropological Association
Anthropology and Environment Section, American Anthropological Association
Society for Applied Anthropology
Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists
Culture and Agriculture Section, American Anthropological Association
Women Studies Program, University of Maryland, College Park
Center on Population, Gender and Social Inequality, University of Maryland, College Park
Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (MEES), University of Maryland, College Park