Robert Foster, professor of anthropology and of visual and cultural studies, has been appointed the Richard L. Turner Professor, a position that supports a faculty member in the humanities. The Board of Trustees approved the appointment in January.
Foster, a member of the Rochester faculty since 1990, is known for his research on globalization, media, consumption, and corporations. He has done extensive fieldwork in Papua New Guinea since 1984. His current projects include research on the history of the P.G.T. Black Collection of Pacific Islands artifacts at the Buffalo Museum of Science, where he is a research associate. He is also examining the role of information and communication technologies in shaping the moral and cultural dimensions of socioeconomic life in Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
Foster is the editor of two books and the author of three books, most recently Coca-Globalization: Following Soft Drinks from New York to New Guinea (2008). He has authored several book chapters and articles for academic journals including Cultural Anthropology, Museum Anthropology, and Anthropological Theory.
He earned his PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago, where he also completed a bachelor’s degree. He holds a master’s degree from Columbia University. Foster served as Mercer Brugler Distinguished Teaching Professor and in 2008 he was awarded the Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Teaching. His other honors include a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2011–12; and an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, 2011–12—receiving both fellowships twice. Foster is current president of the Society for Cultural Anthropology.
The Richard L. Turner Professorship appointment lasts for five years.