John Michael Coggeshall as Visiting Fellow in Ethnology (Winter Term 2019/2020)

Department of Ethnology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, is delighted to welcome dr. John Michael Coggeshall, Professor of Anthropology from Clemson University (South Carolina), as a visiting fellow at the department for the Fall Term 2019. Prof. Coggeshall’s stay at Charles University is supported by the project “Increasing the quality of education at Charles University and its relevance to the needs of the labour market.” (Reg.no. CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_015/0002362).

Prof. Coggeshall’s interest in the Czech Republic dates back to 1995, when he accompanied a group of American students in their study trip to the Czech Republic aimed at the impact of tourism. In the Fall Term 2019, dr. Coggeshall will be teaching the courses “Anthropological Theories” and “Ethnographic Fieldwork” at Charles University. The courses will be open both to Czech and foreign students interested in anthropology as a fascinating discipline studying people in the contemporary world.

Prof. Coggeshall’s professional interests comprise ethnicity, folklore, and heritage tourism. He has been engaged in research into American ethnic and regional groups, the impact of tourism of the South Carolina’s coast, ethnic architecture and folklore in southwestern Illinois immigrant communities, and – most recently – mountain cultures of South Carolina. One of his most quoted articles focuses on the construction of gender roles in the prison. His publications include, among others, Liberia, South Carolina: an African American Appalachian Community (2018), Carolina Piedmont Country (1996), Vernacular Architecture in Southern Illinois: the Ethnic Heritage (with J. Nast, 1988), and “‘Ladies’ behind bars: a liminal gender as cultural mirror,” reprinted in The Best of Anthropology Today, ed. by J. Benthall (2002).