Katherine E. Browne, PhD, is Professor of Anthropology at Colorado State University. Since 2005 and the catastrophe that was Katrina, she has focused her research on historical disadvantage, cultural relevance, and social adaptation in the context of disaster recovery, risk reduction, and human resilience.

In addition to scholarly articles, Browne has published three books, produced two ethnographic films, been awarded ten NSF grants as PI, received teaching awards, served as President of the Society for Economic Anthropology, served as Editor of the new journal she helped found, Economic Anthropology, and presented a Distinguished Lecture at NSF. Her work as a disaster anthropologist began in the aftermath of Katrina in St. Bernard Parish where for eight years she followed the lurching and painful recovery of a large African American family. That work led to the documentary film Still Waiting: Life After Katrina and the book Standing in the Need: Culture, Comfort, and Coming Home After Katrina (UT Press). She is currently researching families affected by Hurricane Harvey in Southeast Texas. Browne co-founded and co-directs the Culture and Disaster Action Network (CADAN), a network of academics and practitioners working to integrate cultural considerations into models of risk reduction, recovery, and resilience. She led a CADAN team to introduce a “Culture-Based DRR” at the 2017 UN Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Mexico and in 2018, co-led a FEMA-funded workshop in DC to consider the agency’s new strategic plan to “Build a Culture of Preparedness.”

In 2018, the American Anthropological Association named Browne recipient of the Franz Boas Award for Exemplary Service to Anthropology, the highest honor awarded by the discipline of anthropology.

For more information and a complete list of Browne’s books, films, articles, honors, talks, and media, please visit: www.katebrowne.org

Research

US Gulf coast communities; French Caribbean; French Polynesia; disaster risk reduction and recovery, academic and practitioner bridging in disaster, economics; morality; race; gender; sense of place; bureaucracy