Vania Smith-Oka

Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Faculty Fellow
Kellogg Institute for International Studies

Degrees

B.A., Lawrence University; M.A., University of Florida; Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago

Research Profile

Smith-Oka’s current research focuses on how marginal peoples around the world respond to the impact that globalization has on their health needs and local knowledge. She has sought to understand this question by looking at how the least powerful members of a community, i.e. women, are responding to this globalization. Her work has taken place in rural Mexico and the city of Puebla. Smith-Oka has co-authored a book with Brian S. Bauer (University of Illinois at Chicago), The History of the Incas by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa.