Benjamin Junge
Benjamin Junge (PhD, Emory University), assistant professor of anthropology at the State University of New York-New Paltz, focuses his research on the relationship between gender, citizen identity, and forms of democratic governance in contemporary, urban Brazil. Grounded in the emerging anthropology of democracy, his work is interdisciplinary in scope.
While at the Institute, Junge will work on “Citizenship Appeals: Gender and Participatory Democracy in Porto Alegre, Brazil,” a book-length ethnography of leftist political representation and grassroots community organizing. His focus is on how grassroots leaders have made sense of their city’s internationally recognized experiments in direct participatory democracy—most notably the Participatory Budget and the World Social Forum—especially while governed by the Workers’ Party (1989–2004).
Junge holds a master’s in health science and international health from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, where he undertook research on respiratory infection among Aymará children in Bolivia. His publications include articles in anthropological and public health journals.
Kellogg themes: Quality of Democracy, Social Movements
