Elizabeth Brumfiel

Elizabeth M. Brumfiel (born Elizabeth Stern; March 10, 1945 – January 1, 2012) was an American archaeologist who taught at Northwestern University and Albion College. She had been a president of the American Anthropological Association.

Brumfiel conducted an archaeological project at the site of Xaltocan in Mexico starting in 1987. Before that, she participated with Richard Blanton at Monte Alban in Mexico and directed research at the Mexican sites of Xico and Huexotla.

Her publications focused on gender, political economy, and the relationship between these areas of scholarship. She also worked to show how archaeology, as an academic discipline, is connected to other fields of anthropology and to other disciplines such as gender studies and political science.

In 2006, conservative author David Horowitz listed her among America's 100 most dangerous professors because of her strong voice on social justice and human rights. She died at a Skokie, Illinois hospice in 2012.[1]

Biography

Early life

Brumfiel was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended Evanston Township High School. She participated as a Peace Corps volunteer in La Paz, Bolivia in 1966-1967.

Education

Professional life

Brumfiel was one of the first scholars to examine the role of women in Aztec culture through their interactions. Brumfiel studied how these interactions evolved over time through food preparation methods as well as textile manufacturing. “Mexican archeologists respected her very strongly,” said Gabriela Vargas-Cetina, an anthropology professor at Autonomous University of Yucatán, in Mérida, Mexico. Brumfiel also served on the editorial boards of Latin American Antiquity and Ancient Mesoamerica. She helped found the World Council of Anthropological Associations and held strong feminist and liberal views. Brumfiel taught at Albion College in Michigan for 25 years before joining Northwestern alumni in 2003.

Family life

Brumfiel and her husband, Vincent, have a son, Geoffrey.

Significant works

Edited volumes

Cunliffe, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. in press.

Journal entries

American Anthropologist 108:861-877. in press .

References

  1. ↑
(article about The Aztec World, a Field Museum exhibit curated by Brumfiel)
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