Susan Brownell

Dr. Brownell grew up in Virginia. She traces her interest in China back to the stories told by her grandmother, whose father was governor of Mississippi, a civil rights proponent, and lawyer for the Mississippi Chinese Association in the 1910s and 20s. Her love of anthropology began as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, where she took Victor Turner's famous seminar, in which the participants reenacted different rituals from around the world. She was also a nationally-ranked track and field athlete in the U.S. before she joined the track team at Beijing University in 1985-86 while she was there for a year of Chinese language studies. She represented Beijing in the 1986 Chinese National College Games and set a national record in the heptathlon. In 1987-88 she returned to the Beijing Sport University for a year of dissertation research. She has taught at Middlebury College, the University of Washington, and Yale University.