AUG 14 2014 PROGRAM: "South Africa: 21st Century Land of Diversity & Contrast"
Dr. Ruth P. Wilson is the Chair of the African American Studies Department and Full Professor at San Jose State University.
Dr. Wilson received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Biology and Community Studies. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Stanford University. Prior to her arrival at SJSU, Dr. Wilson’s academic career included a six-year appointment as a medical anthropologist in International Health Division (now Global Health) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and teaching positions at Rutgers University in New Jersey, CUNY Sophie Davis Medical School in New York, and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. Her research focuses on the social and cultural dimensions of health and illness among peoples of African descent in the United States and worldwide. Most recently, her research in Silicon Valley focuses on the social and cultural dimensions of immigrant African populations in the Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. In 2007 she was awarded a prestigious Fulbright-Hays Award and traveled throughout South Africa with a group of teachers and scholars.
Dr. Wilson will share a slide presentation based on a personal study tour of South Africa, a land (for some) of surprising diversity of people and culture.