CV

Doris Bacalzo studied biology prior to pursuing  graduate studies in anthropology. She received her M.A. in Anthropology from the University of the Philippines with an ethnographic study of a Mangyan group in the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, focusing on customary law, indigenous women and gender relations. She recieved a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Lucerne in 2016 and is currently employed as a Post-doc researcher in an SNF-sponsored research project on "International Capital and Local Inequality: A Longitudinal Ethnography of the Wampar (Papua New Guinea) under the Impact of two Large Projects (a Copper‐Gold Mine and a Timber Biomass Energy Plant)".

For her PhD thesis, she conducted research among the Wampar of the Markham Valley, in Papua New Guinea, between 2009 and 2010, examining the socialization of children of interethnic marriage in a context of transcultural kinship. The research focused on children's notions of kinship and belonging, and their active role in identity construction in the face of tendencies to police social boundaries and the rights associated with corporate groups. She also has done field research in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea in 2006, where she focused on women’s perspectives in the context of tribal warfare and violent conflict.

In the Philippines, she worked on social and development issues as an engaged anthropologist. In the U.S., she worked with international non-profit organizations addressing environmental issues, human rights, women's rights, poverty, and conflict through public education programs. To help promote the relevance of anthropology in the world today, she co-founded Anthropology Watch, Inc., Philippines. In teaching and research, she continues to advance the claims of anthropological approaches in making sense of contemporary problems.

Publications