Dr. Rodney W. Collins is a socio-cultural anthropologist who received his PhD from the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University in 2009. He has nearly fifteen years of experience conducting qualitative research in the emerging markets of the Middle East and North Africa. He has conducted field research in Syria, Morocco, Egypt, Qatar, and Tunisia. Utilizing semiotic, cultural, pragmatic, and psychoanalytic frameworks, his analysis has offered insights into a wide spectrum of practices: from idleness and masculinity to consumer packaged goods and public health policy. His research has been supported with awards from Wenner-Gren, Fulbright, Ford, and Mellon Foundations. Throughout his research, Collins investigates the complex circuitry of market-state-society, especially as it irradiates the formation of contemporary male subjectivities. In his current book project, Collins approaches this nexus through a historical and ethnographic examination of the political economic links between the coffee trade, the public coffeehouse (qahwa sha‘abiya), and manhood in Tunis, Tunisia. This project is based upon two years of fieldwork in Tunis and has the working title, “From Coffee to Manhood: Grounds for Exchange in the Tunisian Coffeehouse, ca. 1898-2008.” Building upon this book-length project, Collins has recently expanded the scope of his research agenda to include three new domains of inquiry: 1) deaf culture, identity, and the codification of Tunisian Sign Language; 2) youth, gender, and consumption in urban Tunis; and, 3) the emergence and popularity of the ‘one-man show’ in the socio-political landscape of Tunisian expressive culture. Collectively, these projects work to advance Collins’ interest in the critical analysis of social difference at the margins of political and cultural normativity in contemporary North Africa. In addition to preparing his manuscript for publication as well as several journal articles and contributions to edited volumes, Collins has been involved in several innovative editorial initiatives with the journal, Cultural Anthropology, with a focus on the themes of Cities & Urbanism and Gender & Sexuality. Collins has also consulted with the World Monuments Fund, served as an International Relations Officer for the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services in Cairo, Egypt, conducted research amongst intravenous drug users in New York City, and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Adamaoua province of Cameroon. From discovery to presentation, he aims to identify and develop intelligence and insights for public and private sector partners.

Anthropology

Maghreb Studies

Urban Studies

Ethnography

Gender/Women's Studies

Cultural Studies

Theory

Political Economy

Queer/LGBT Studies

Sociolinguistics

Maghreb

Tunisia

Libya

All Middle East

Mediterranean Countries

North America

Arabic (advanced)

French (fluent)

Spanish (advanced)

English (native)

Tunisian (fluent)

Turkish (elementary)