Anthropology Paul Eiss, Pittsburgh PA, Latin Jazz

Paul K. Eiss

A deracinated native of Flatbush, Paul Eiss is a graduate of the
Doctoral Program in Anthropology and History at the University
of Michigan whose research is based upon ethnographic and
archival research in Yucatán, Mexico. In 2000 he became an
assistant professor of anthropology and history in Carnegie
Mellon University’s Department of History and completed a
manuscript entitled Lords of the Forest. In his dissertation and
other publications (Lords of the Forest; In the Name of the
Pueblo: Possession, Sovereignty and History in Yucatán), Eiss
explores such topics as: the politics of labor, land tenure and
ethnicity; popular religion; indigenous education; value; and
archives and historical memory. He was recently awarded a
National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship
for a project on indigenous education, as well as the Society for
Cultural Anthropology's "Cultural Horizons" prize for his article,
"Hunting for the Virgin."

In 2004, Paul picked up the saxophones he had laid down
several years earlier and released his musical soul once again,
to the delight of his bandmates, family and fans.