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Charles D. Piot

Professor of Cultural Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Box 90091, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Durham, NC 27708-0091
210 Friedl Building, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Charlie Piot, Peter Lange Faculty Director of DukeEngage and Professor of Cultural Anthropology & African and African American Studies, does research on the political economy and history of rural West Africa. His first book, Remotely Global: Village Modernity in West Africa (1999), attempted to re-theorize a classic out-of-the-way place as within the modern and global. His next book, Nostalgia for the Future: West Africa after the Cold War (2010), explored shifts in Togolese political culture during the 1990s, a time when the NGOs and charismatic churches took over the biopolitical, reorganizing social and political life in the absence of the state.  His most recent book, The Fixer: Visa Lottery Chronicles (2019), is about Togolese who apply for and attempt to game the US Diversity Visa Lottery.  He has begun research focusing on the return of Togolese from the diaspora to West Africa.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor of Cultural Anthropology · 2011 - Present Cultural Anthropology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of African and African American Studies · 2011 - Present African & African American Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor in Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies · 2021 - Present Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published October 17, 2023
Helping Social Scientists Grow an Idea into a Research Project
Published August 1, 2023
Duke Diary Dispatch: Speaking Chinese, and Teaching It, in Togo
Published June 8, 2023
Duke Diary Dispatch: In Togo, Connecting With Your Food

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Recent Publications


The Fixer: Visa Lottery Chronicles

Book · June 14, 2019 Charles Piot follows a visa broker—known as a "fixer"—in the West African nation of Togo as he helps his clients apply for the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery program. ... Open Access Cite

FINANCING OPEN ACCESS: Introducing Friends of Cultural Anthropology

Journal Article Cultural Anthropology · May 1, 2016 Full text Cite

Editing the times

Journal Article Cultural Anthropology · November 1, 2015 Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Doctoral Dissertation Research: Securing Youth: Humanitarian Futures in Post-Conflict Uganda

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2018 - 2019

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Piety in Progress: Video Filmmaking and Religious Encounter in Benin

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2014 - 2016

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Producing Urban Futures in Post-Genocide Kigali

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2013 - 2015

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Education, Training & Certifications


University of Virginia · 1986 Ph.D.
University of Virginia · 1982 M.A.
Princeton University · 1973 B.A.