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Jeffrey Cole Education:
B.A. Portland State University;
Cand. Mag. University of Oslo (Norway);
Ph.D. City University of New York
Jeffrey E. Cole
Professor of Anthropology
Chair of Anthropology Department
Joined Connecticut College: 2008
Specializations:
- Migration
- Race and ethnicity
- Food and agriculture
- Work
Before coming to Connecticut, Jeffrey Cole served as professor of anthropology and academic chair of the division of social sciences at Dowling College, Long Island, NY. He has taught topical courses on immigration to the United States, food, global migration as well as courses dedicated to Europe and other world areas.
Cole’s research explores varied aspects of migration, with a focus on Italy. His first book, A New Racism in Europe: A Sicilian Ethnography examines everyday reactions to immigrants on the part of rich and poor in the city of Palermo, Sicily; it also attempts to explain regional variation within Italy of political mobilization both in support of and against newcomers. His second book, Dirty Work: Immigrants in Domestic Service, Agriculture, and Prostitution in Sicily, examines the contours and consequences of immigrant employment in rural and urban Sicily.
Food and agriculture are increasingly of interest to Cole. He serves as assistant editor for Agriculture and Human Values, an interdisciplinary journal. Most recently, he edited a special issue of the Journal of Modern Italian Studies devoted to the anthropology of contemporary Italy. His contribution to the issue addresses the role of foreign workers in one of Italy’s most productive greenhouse districts.
Cole is currently editing one-volume encyclopedia on ethnic groups in Europe.
Jeffrey Cole is the recipient of grants and awards from the National Science Foundation, Wenner-Gren, the Fulbright program, and the H.F. Guggenheim Foundation.
Recent presentations:
2008. (and Sally S. Booth) “How Immigrants Saved the Italian Family,” with Sally S. Booth, Columbia University Seminar in Modern Italian Studies. New York, NY, March.
2006 “Tunisian Students in Sicilian Schools.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. San Jose, CA, November.
Recent publications:
2007. “In Pursuit of ‘Green Gold’: Immigration and the Fortunes of a Sicilian Greenhouse District.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 12(4): 387-396.
2007. Modern Italy in Anthropological Perspective: Essays in Honor of Anthony Galt. Editor, special issue, Journal of Modern Italian Studies 12(4).
2007. (and Sally S. Booth) Dirty Work: Immigrants in Domestic Service, Agriculture, and Prostitution in Sicily. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
2006. (and Sally S. Booth) “Domestic Work, Family Life, and Immigration in Sicily.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 11(1): 22-36.
2006. “Reducing the Damage: Dilemmas of Anti-Trafficking Efforts among Nigerian Prostitutes in Palermo.” Anthropologica 48(2): 217-228.
2006. “People on the Move in Europe.” Review essay, Identities 16(2): 309-325.
2006. “Racism.” Europe since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Vol. 4: 2147-2153. Scribner Library of Modern Europe. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale.
View the anthropology department Web site.