Robert R. Sauders is an associate professor with a joint appointment in the programs of both Anthropology and Geography at Eastern Washington University where his teaching focuses on the Middle East, Islam, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, transnational activism, peace-building and geographic information systems (GIS).
Dr. Sauders’ research explores the practical and theoretical complexities surrounding the direct and indirect participation of activists and networks in transnational social justice and human rights campaigns with a particular interest in how such actors can shape and influence conceptualizations and constructions of space and place within ethnic, national, religious, political, economic and environmental conflicts.
Specifically, the focus of this research is on non-state actors who engage the political discourse from grassroots, social justice frameworks that cut across traditional ethnic, national and religious boundaries and, instead, emphasizes transnational spatial understandings rooted in solidarity and peacebuilding. Using ethnographic methods supported by qualitative and quantitative data analysis, the research aims to provide an alternative, yet complimentary, approach to the more widespread state-focused analysis of the conflict.
Dr. Sauders received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from American University in 2007.
Courses: ANTH 348 Peasant Societies; Politics of Culture; History and Culture of the Middle East; Anthropology of Islam; Anthropology of Museums
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