Michael Herzfeld
Harvard University
Michael Herzfeld (D.Phil., Oxford, 1976; D.Litt., Birmingham, 1989) is Ernest E. Monrad Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University, IIAS Professor of Critical Heritage Studies Emeritus at Leiden University, and Chang Jiang Scholar at Shanghai International Studies University. A social anthropologist who has worked extensively in Greece, Italy, and Thailand, he is the author of twelve monographs and numerous shorter publications. Holder of honorary doctorates from the Free University of Brussels and the Universities of Crete and Macedonia, winner of the 1994 J.I Staley Prize and 1994 Rivers Memorial Medal, and founding and first director of the Harvard University Asia Center Thai Studies Program, he has served as the Editor of American Ethnologist and currently co-directs the series “New Anthropologies of Europe” (Berghahn Books) and “Asian Heritages” (Amsterdam University Press). His research addresses such topics as housing, eviction, and gentrification; artisanship; critical heritage issues; the politics of knowledge; nationalism and bureaucracy; and social aspects of semiotic processes. In 2021, he was made an honorary citizen of Greece.
