Claudia Chang

Title: Professor of Anthropology

Summary of Expertise: I have conducted archaeological research on Bronze and Iron Age cultures in Southeastern Kazakhstan. In 1994-95 and then again in 1997-1999, I lived in the largest city in the Republic of Kazakhstan, a newly Independent Republic of the former USSR. Specific issues that I can speak to are: (1) post-Soviet life in the Republic of Kazakhstan; and (2) the cultural and historical heritage of Kazakhstan.

Topics that I do not research, but have experience teaching about: (1) archaeology and nationalism; (2) general issues about economic development and the environment in Third World nations; (3) gender issues in the U.S. (women's equality and gender diversity); and (4) anthropology as the study of multiculturalism.

Specific subjects or issues you can knowledgeably discuss: archaeology and history of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, contemporary life in a former Soviet Republic, the transition to Western capitalism in Kazakhstan.

Professional achievements and/or current responsibilities: I have been the director of an international archaeological project in the Republic of Kazakhstan since 1994 (a decade of research)

Books or significant articles published:

"Pastoralists at the Periphery": Herders in the Capitalist World (edited by C. Chang and H.A. Koster (1994), Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.

"The Social Evolution of Eurasian Steppe Communities in Southeastern Kazakhstan": The Kazakh-American Talgar Project 1994 Ð 2001, (C. Chang, P.A. Tourtellotte, K. Baipakov, and F. P. Grigoriev). (Almaty: Institute of Archaeology, Kazakh National Academy of Sciences). (178-page monograph published in English).

"2003 Eurasian Iron Age Settlements and Chronology in Southeastern Kazakhstan" by Claudia Chang, Norbert Benecke, Fedor P. Grigoriev, Arlene M. Rosen, and Perry A. Tourtellotte. Antiquity 77(196): 298-312.

Numerous articles on Eurasian steppe archaeology and contemporary Greek pastoralism.

Current or recent research: The Archaeology of Pastoral Nomadic Populations in Southeastern Kazakhstan
Cultural and Historical Heritage along the Silk Route (Central Asia and the Republic of Kazakhstan)

Current or recent professional memberships, activities or awards: Member of the Society for American Archaeologists, The Archaeological Institute of America, and the American Anthropological Association, Awarded a NSF research grant in 1997 for research on the Social Evolution of Eurasian Steppe Communities in SE Kazakhstan (covered funding from 1997-2002), Fulbright Lecturer in the Republic of Kazakhstan from 1994-1995 at the Kazakh State University (KAZ-GU), NEH fellowship for College Teachers awarded in 1997-1998.

Experience with news media: Moderate

Languages spoken: English, Russian, Modern Greek

Educational background: B.A. 1974 Prescott College, M.A. 1977 (Anthropology), The State University of New York at Binghamton, Ph.D. 1981 (Anthropology), The State University of New York at Binghamton