Adrienne Pine

Adrienne Pine"who has been described as "a one-woman wrecking crew against the golpistas in Honduras and their handlers, paymasters, apologists and lackeys in DC" is a militant anthropologist doing her part to overthrow the corporatocracy. She is based in Washington, DC, where she learns from and teaches anthropology to the fabulous students at American University. She is also a Senior Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs."

"My book, Working Hard, Drinking Hard: On Violence and Survival in Honduras (University of California Press 2008), examines the formation of Honduran subjectivities through a medical anthropological analysis of three different yet intertwined topics: violence, alcohol and maquilas (factories producing products for large U.S. retailers)...

"Following its release, I have strived to use Working Hard, Drinking Hard as a tool for engaging with a broad public audience. I have given lectures to immigrant-rights and anti-torture groups, labor and anti-corporate activists, public health advocates, federal lobbyists and other “policy-makers” in cities around the U.S. and in Honduras. I am collaborating with various Honduran organizations and individuals to bring more international attention to their struggle to halt the invisible genocide that has been underway in that country for a decade. To that end, I also frequently give radio, television and print media interviews in English and Spanish. Additionally, I have served as an expert witness in over a dozen asylum cases involving youth fleeing to the United States from extremely violent situations in Honduras that all too often have structural origins in their country of refuge.

"Prior to coming to AUC, I worked as researcher and lead educator for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, where I taught continuing education courses to thousands of registered nurses in the State of California, covering topics ranging from the role of metaphor in healthcare to the impact of the California legislative process on hospital care throughout the past century. My teaching at CNA brought anthropological theory to the everyday realities of workers in the field of public health and required me to teach that theory using a language that could be grasped by adults with no social science background. My work in and out of the academy has deepened my commitment to both critical medical and public anthropology and has given me the opportunity to bring my research and pedagogical training to bear on the social and population dimensions of public health and politics.

"Here in Cairo, I am engaged in a research project titled “Fostering Community Bonds and Liberal Education in a Corporate World: Challenges for the American University in Cairo.” This research, with support from the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, is part of a collaborative project being carried out together with numerous other faculty and students who care deeply about maintaining and strengthening AUC’s community ties as we move from the historic downtown campus to the New Cairo campus. I have also worked with AUC students to bring the Margaret Mead International Film Festival to the campus for the first time in Fall 2008, in what we hope will become an annual tradition." CV


 * Assistant Professor, American University Anthropology Department, Fall 2009-present
 * Assistant Professor, American University in Cairo, Anthropology Unit, Fall 2007-Spring 2009
 * Senior Research Associate, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (October 2009 to present)

She Blogs at http://quotha.net

PhD
In May 2004 she completed her Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley. The thesis was titled "Manufacturing Subjects: Violence, Alcohol and the Maquiladora Industry in Honduras." Her examination committee was Stanley Brandes (chair), Laura Nader, Lee Ann Kaskutas, Harley Shaiken.

Related Sourcewatch

 * Elizabeth Katz