Debra VidaliAssociate Professor of Anthropology

Emory courses taught by Professor Vidali:

• Indigenous North America
• Fieldwork into Performance
• Experimental Ethnography
• Decolonizing Theory & Practice

Dr. Debra Vidali, Director of the Anthropology Theater Lab, is an Associate Professor in Anthropology and Affiliated Faculty in Theater Studies. Dr. Vidali is a sociocultural anthropologist, experimental ethnographer, theater-maker, and linguist. Her research and teaching focus on embodied and multisensorial forms of knowledge production. She facilitates ethnographically-driven collaborative theater and performance projects, using embodied and multimodal forms of inquiry. Recent publications (listed below) examine the crafts of ethnographic theater scripting and staging (2023), the alchemy of theater ensemble building (2020), political and epistemological potentials of collaborative ethnographic theater (2020, 2015), and form-function relations in multisensorial knowledge production (2023, 2017, 2016). Dr. Vidali's ongoing work also appears in creative nonfiction, poetry, K-12 curriculum, museum installations, and audio. Current research is based in North America. Topics include: ancestral knowledges, future imaginings, Indigenous sovereignty, placemaking, civic engagement, and multimodal production. Previous research has focused on media and political engagement in the U.S., as well as media, national identity, multilingualism, and the Bemba language in Zambia.