|
 |
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 5579 Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 8632 E-mail: luke.freeman@ucl.ac.uk Room: 239 Office hours: Thursdays 2 -4 |
|
|
|
General Interests
- Education, teaching and knowledge
- Communication, speech and rhetoric
- Power and charisma
- Human-animal relations
Current Research
Dr Freeman’s current book project The Pen and the Spade: dilemmas of education in Highland Madagascar examines the role of schooling in an isolated rice-growing valley with an extraordinarily high level of engagement and success in formal education. The book examines the political economy of knowledge within a local cultural framework which sees foreign influence as both dangerous and necessary for productive life. Dilemma, ambivalence and ambiguity are therefore central themes of the book.
Dr Freeman recently drove a herd of cattle on foot across Madagascar. Focusing on animal symbolism, exchange and human-animal relationships, a new research project will examine how the young drovers are themselves objects of exchange in the cattle trade.
Media and communication
Dr Freeman’s academic interest in communication, rhetoric and how people are represented means he is a regular commentator on anthropological topics in written and broadcast media.
Selected media work includes:
The Twa: Rwanda's forgotten victims, a report on the Batwa Pygmies of the Great Lakes region of Africa for BBC World Service Radio
Cattle roads and motorcades, a documentary on Malagasy cattle drovers for BBC Radio 4
Anthropology unites humankind rather than dividing it, a defence of anthropology in The Guardian
Other topics addressed include: dreams, droving, famine, family trees, heraldry, language, political leadership, social class and television.
Teaching
Dr Freeman currently teaches the core course of the MSc in Anthropology and first year undergraduate module.
With Dr Jerome Lewis he has spent several years developing digital tools for teaching undergraduate anthropology. The project won a commendation from the Higher Education Academy.
He is a member of the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Education Committee.
He has previously taught for several years at the London School of Economics and at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Recent publications
2007 ‘Why are some people powerful?’ in Questions of Anthropology, Astuti, Parry & Stafford (eds), Oxford: Berg
2005 ‘Digital Anthropological Resources for Teaching’ (with J. Lewis) in Teaching Matters 17:1-2
2004 ‘Voleurs de foies, voleurs de coeurs’ (‘Heart thieves and liver thieves’) Terrain 43:85-106
2004 ‘Cowboys of Madagascar’ Geographical 76 (11): 39-43
