James W. Wessman

Office: Social Sciences Building, Room 249
Ph: (518) 442-4892
E-mail: wessman@albany.edu

Ph.D., University of Connecticut,1976

Interests: Economic anthropology, political economy .
Areas: Caribbean, Latin America.

Jointly appointed to the Department of Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies

Research Statement

My research on agrarian issues in Puerto Rico and Mexico, which began under the rubrics of economic anthropology, cultural ecology, demographic anthropology and "peasant studies," turned me in the direction of broader interdisciplinary themes that represent the intersection (not the union) of the social sciences, as manifested in Anthropology and Marxism. During the last decade, in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, I have turned my anthropological training inside-out, using concepts to explain specific cultural and historical settings--the general to explain the specific--rather than using the data from these settings to illuminate concepts--the specific to exemplify the general. At the same time, I have become intrigued with sources of knowledge outside the social sciences, narrowly construed, especially literature. Thus my research and writing interests have evolved in the direction of pan-Latin American and pan-Caribbean themes, as demonstrated in my editing of the Society for Latin American Anthropology Newsletter (1983-1987) and the Caribbean Studies Newsletter (1990-present), as well as in other projects too complex to summarize here.

Select Publications

Book Chapters

1998
Guyana. In Encyclopedia of Political Parties and Systems. New York: Facts on File..

Dominican Republic. In Encyclopedia of Political Parties and Systems. New York: Facts on File.

1997
Agribusiness and Agroindustry. In Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture. Michael Werner (ed). Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn.