| Dr. Maxine Margolis | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Anthropology |
| Institutions | University of Florida |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
Maxine L. Margolis is an American anthropologist and an inductee of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida in Gainsville, and has been with the University since 1970. Margolis holds a Ph. D in Anthropology from Columbia University.
She was a student and then a colleague of Marvin Harris, and was one of those responsible for convincing him to leave Columbia University for the University of Florida in 1980. Margolis's work is strongly informed by Harris's anthropological research strategy, known as cultural materialism.
In the late 1990s, Margolis sued the University of Florida, charging sex discrimination after twice going through the university’s internal administrative procedures seeking redress. Both times, the university’s salary discrimination committee found that her salary lagged behind those of her male colleagues and that the gap was the result of discrimination. The University of Florida and the Florida Board of Regents settled the suit for an undisclosed amount.
Margolis is the author of many books on anthropology, notably Little Brazil, True to Her Nature: Changing Advice to American Women, and An Invisible Minority: Brazilians in New York City.
With Martin F. Murphy she edited Science, Materialism, and the Study of Culture the most comprehensive collection of writings by anthropologists strongly influenced by cultural materialism to date.
Margolis's research interests include gender, agriculture, Brazil and Brazilian immigrants to the United States. In December 2005 she was cited in a New York Times article Trading Status for a Raise, and appears in the companion piece, a New York Times video report " Brazil in Queens.
Margolis is married to archeologist Jerald T. Milanich