Paul Rabinow

Areas of Specialization: Anthropology of Reason
Paul Rabinow was Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley and director of the Anthropology of the Contemporary Research Collaboratory (ARC). He earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago. He has also studied at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, France. He has held Fulbright fellowships at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro and the University of Iceland.

A recognized scholar on the works of Michel Foucault, and his “anthropology of reason,” Rabinow became a famous anthropologist for his willingness to, and propensity for, “tinkering” with current modes and methods of inquiry and seeking to invent and employ new methods.

A prolific author, Rabinow published many critical works, such as Symbolic Domination: Cultural Form and Historical Change in Morocco, French Modern: Norms and Forms of the Social Environment, and Marking Time: On the Anthropology of the Contemporary.

His teaching career took him to the École Normale Supérieure and École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France. He was a co-founder of the French Cultural Studies program at University of California at Berkeley, the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center, and the Anthropology of the Contemporary Research Collaboratory.

Academic Website

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