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
Bass Fellow
·
2006 - Present
Cultural Anthropology,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
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 CiteFINANCING OPEN ACCESS: Introducing Friends of Cultural Anthropology
Journal Article Cultural Anthropology · May 1, 2016 Full text CiteEditing the times
Journal Article Cultural Anthropology · November 1, 2015 Full text CiteRecent Grants
Doctoral Dissertation Research: Securing Youth: Humanitarian Futures in Post-Conflict Uganda
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2018 - 2019Doctoral Dissertation Research: Piety in Progress: Video Filmmaking and Religious Encounter in Benin
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2014 - 2016Doctoral Dissertation Research: Producing Urban Futures in Post-Genocide Kigali
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2013 - 2015View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
University of Virginia ·
1986
Ph.D.
University of Virginia ·
1982
M.A.
Princeton University ·
1973
B.A.