Lauren Wynne

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Anthropology and Sociology

Headshot of Lauren Wynne

Department Chair / Coordinator of Food Studies Program

Lauren Wynne is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and is the current Department Chair. She received her B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies from Columbia University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago. Dr. Wynne’s ongoing research in rural Yucatán, Mexico, explores the changing nature of human relationships with food specifically as it is expressed through a Yucatec Maya concept of “care.” Dr. Wynne also conducts research on the pregnancy and childbirth experiences of women in upstate New York.

Department

Anthropology and Sociology

Degrees

B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies from Columbia University
M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago
Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago

Teaching

Anthropology of Sexuality

Contemporary Mexican Culture

Food and Culture

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology

Medical Anthropology

Research Interests

Medical anthropology, food studies, Mexican and indigenous American cultures, alcohol and drug studies, gender and sexuality

Recent Work

Predictable Pleasures: Food and the Pursuit of Balance in Rural Yucatán. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

“From the Desk of Lauren Wynne: Food and Balance in Rural Yucatán”. University of Nebraska Press Guest Blog, May 29, 2020

“Just Right’: Balance, Tranquility, and Drunkenness in Rural Yucatán.” Global Public Health, 15, 5 (2020). doi: 10.1080/17441692.2019.1701058.

“I Hate It’: Tortilla-Making, Class, and Women’s Tastes in Rural Yucatán, Mexico.” Food, Culture and Society 18, no. 3 (2015): 379-397

“Care and the self: theorizing the significance of food in rural Yucatán,” Medical Anthropology Theory, January 15, 2015,

“Transformations in Body and Cuisine in Rural Yucatán, Mexico” in Food and Identity in the Caribbean, edited by Hanna Garth, 31-44. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.