Erica Lorraine Williams
Welcome to the publication, “Representations.” This is a project designed to bring the perspectives of a wider variety of groups to the forefront of the anthropology classroom. In recognition of often-overlooked Women’s History, we are covering the accomplishments of female anthropologists. Learn more about our project; read on for the amazing accomplishments of Erica Lorraine Williams.
Born in Virginia, Erica Lorraine Williams, knew at an early age that she would want to travel, learn foreign languages, and experience different cultures. Erica moved around until the age of 10 and grew up in her mother’s hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina. In 1997, Erica moved to New York to attend New York University. During her undergraduate experience at NYU, Erica was very active in the Academic Achievement Program. During her sophomore year of college, Erica got the opportunity of a lifetime to travel abroad to Venezuela to do a research project on the African influence on Venezuelan religious festivals. After doing her research, Erica declared her major; Cultural Anthropology.
Throughout Erica’s undergraduate experience, she continued to conduct research in various countries such as London, South Africa, Salvador, Bahia, and Brazil. In 2002, Erica earned her Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology and Africana Studies. Erica spent 2 months studying the Yoruba language and spent 2 months in Nigeria working with women’s rights non-governmental organization and conducted research on the trafficking of women and children. Erica’s various research opportunities lead her to pursue a doctoral degree. Erica received her Ph.D in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University in 2010, became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA in August 2009. Erica earned tenure and was promoted to Associate professor at Spelman College in 2015.
During the Spring Semester of 2012, Erica was a Mellon/HBCU fellow at the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University. She held several fellowships such as the Future of Minorities project(2011) and UNCF / Mellon Faculty Programs(2009), and received the Vulcan Materials Teaching Excellence Award in 2013. Erica released her first published book in 2013 titled “Sex, Tourism in Bahia; Ambiguous Entanglements.
Bibliography
“Erica Lorraine Williams .” Erica Lorraine Williams, Ph.D, 11 Mar. 2016, faculty.spelman.edu/ericawilliams/about-me/#.YE58Yi1HafA.
Photo courtesy of Spelman College.
