Faye V. Harrison, past president of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, has focused much of her life and career on the African diaspora, the politics and political economy of social inequality, and gendered antiracisms as sites for human rights discourse and practice. She is currently Professor of African American Studies and Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has worked at several universities in the United States and been a visiting scholar in South Africa, Suriname, and Japan. In 2020, she was part of an online course, “The Theory and Politics of the African Diaspora in the Americas,” which the Black Brazilian women’s civil society organization Criola hosted. Drawing on the expertise of scholars and practitioners from Brazil and the United States, the course attracted graduate students, professionals from various fields, and activists. Last year, she facilitated a seminar in Central European University’s online summer course, “New Frontiers in Romani Studies: Insights from Critical Race Theory.” Her seminar, which attracted university students and NGO practitioners, examined the difference anthropologists make in interdisciplinary conversations and problem-solving projects on the issues for which critical race theorists are known and too often misunderstood.

Harrison’s perspective on the mutual relationship between theory and engaged practice—praxis—is found in many of her publications, including Resisting Racism and Xenophobia: Global Perspectives on Race, Gender, and Human Rights (2005), Outsider Within: Reworking Anthropology in the Global Age (2008), and articles and essays such as “What Does ‘Transformation’ Mean?” (2011), “Dismantling Anthropology’s Domestic and International Peripheries” (2012), “Theorizing in Ex-Centric Sites” (2016), and “Refusing the God Trick: Engaging Black Women’s Knowledge” (2022).

She has been the recipient of honors and awards such as the Southern Anthropological Society’s Zora Neale Hurston Award for Mentoring, Service & Scholarship (2007); the Association of Black Anthropologist’s Legacy Scholar Award (2010); and the American Anthropological Association’s Presidential Award (2007and 2018). She delivered the Distinguished Lecture at the 2021 AAA Meeting.