Meet our Faculty
Amy Harper, Ph.D.
Professor of Anthropology
Email: aeharper@cocc.edu
Dr. Harper has been studying the ways in which social structures shape identity and give contour to notions of belonging and marginalization since 1992. With a geographic focus on Europe, she has explored the various ways in which gender, sexuality, race, religion, and immigration intersect. Her dissertation research, conducted in Berlin, Germany in 1998-1999, explored how discursive encounters with foreign residents reshape and challenge notions of belonging. She has presented at national and international conferences, was awarded a Fulbright Grant to participate in a workshop on Muslim minorities in France and Germany, and has served as the editor of Voices, a section journal of the American Anthropological Association. In addition, she has presented for a number of community organizations including a presentation on ethnographic methods for a local middle school to presenting a series of lectures on Margaret Mead for the Deschutes Public Library’s Novel Idea events. Amy began teaching at COCC in 2002. She teaches several courses including Cultural Anthropology, Language and Culture, Magic, Witchcraft and Religion, Food and Culture and Medical Anthropology.
Michel Waller, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Email: mwaller@cocc.edu
Dr. Waller has been studying anthropology since 2001 and began his career as a field researcher focused on chimpanzee ranging behavior and conservation issues in Senegal. Since then, he has gone on to do field research on Bonobo social behavior, evolution, and conservation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and archaeological resource management for the Oregon Department of State Lands. He is the author of several journal articles including one in Nature. He has also written several book reviews and has presented his research at a number of professional conferences. In 2015, he edited a book entitled Ethnoprimatology: Primate Conservation in the 21st Century. Michel earned his Ph.D. from University of Oregon in 2011 and has been teaching at COCC since 2009. Michel teaches a variety of courses including: Biological Anthropology, The Primates, Evolution of Human Sexuality, Forensic Anthropology, Archaeology, and Archaeology of Oregon.