Alex Nading

Name and title:

Alex Nading, Associate Professor, Anthropology

Academic focus:

Medical anthropology, environmental studies, science and technology studies, labor

Current research project: 

I am currently studying how health and environmental activists are confronting a new epidemic of chronic kidney disease among sugarcane plantation workers in Nicaragua.

Previous positions:

• Senior Fellow, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University, 2018-2020
• Lecturer, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh, 2015-2020
• Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Franklin & Marshall College, 2011-2015 

Academic background:

• Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2011
• M.A., Anthropology, University of Sussex, 2004
• B.A., Anthropology and English, University of Virginia, 2001

Last book read:

“A Rising Man” by Abir Mukherjee

In your own time/when not working:

I enjoy walking my two dogs, cycling, running, and cooking.

Courses you’re most looking forward to teaching:

I am really excited to be teaching a course in anthropological field methods, mostly because our field is changing so rapidly, both due to the constraints of the current pandemic and because of ongoing conversations about ethics and responsibility in the production of knowledge. I am grateful for the chance to work with students to imagine how our field might meet these challenges, as well as how our methods might serve a changing world.

What most excites you about Cornell:

With my overlapping interests in anthropology, science and technology studies, international development, and industrial agriculture, I can’t imagine a more exciting place to be. Cornell’s commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and curriculum is already inspiring me to reimagine the possibilities for my own research and teaching.