Neri de Kramer
Neri de Kramer
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Wilmington Campus
CEB Room 801
Resources and Links
Biography
I am a cultural anthropologist with a culinary background. I have a Ph.D. in anthropology from the CUNY Graduate Center and a diploma in Culinary Arts from the International Culinary Center in New York. My research is on consumer behavior and figuring out how, where, and why products fit into people’s lives. My particular interest is in human food practices and the process by which consumers form and express identities through food. At UD, I teach courses in food anthropology, material culture, applied anthropology, and visual anthropology. In my classes, I try to focus on topics that relate to students' lives directly, and I am always scheming to find a reason to bring food into the curriculum.
In addition to teaching, I work as freelance ethnographer. I have done research in Europe as well as the United States, and my research findings have been applied to the development of new products, brands, and advertising strategies for several companies including Johnson & Johnson, McCormick, PepsiCo, Tetra Pak, and a global hotel chain. For fun, I like to read, cook new things for my family, and hike in the woods with my dog Magnus.
Courses Taught
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Introduction to Material Culture
Food, Gender and Culture
Public Advocacy in Anthropology
Visualizing Humanity
Education
Ph.D., Cultural Anthropology, The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York
Grand Diplôme Culinary Arts, The International Culinary Center
Master's in Cultural Anthropology, University of Amsterdam
Publications
Book review: Food, Masculinities, and Home: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, January 2019. On the blog of the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition.
Book review: Real Pigs by Brad Weiss, June 2017. On the blog of the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition.
Book chapter: “Muskrat,” in We Eat What? A Cultural Encyclopedia of American Regional Food, 2018.
Book chapter: “Feeding the Squeezed Middle-Class Family: Maternal Stress, Dilemmas, Contradictions and the Third Shift” for edited volume Mothers and Food: Negotiating Foodways from Maternal Perspectives, Demeter Press, 2016.
Presentations
Beyond Health: Food and Gender Identity Transitions in American Nursing Homes. Paper presented at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Minneapolis, MN, November 2016.
The Food Politics of the Squeezed American Middle Class. Paper presented at the 114th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Denver, CO, November 2015.
The Cultural Politics of Eating in Middle-Class Philadelphia. Paper presented at the CUNY Graduate Center’s “Back from the Field” series, New York, NY, May 2014.
Secrets from a Food Anthropologist. Paper presented at the University of Delaware’s Anthropology colloquium, Newark, DE, May 2013.
Teaching Food Anthropology. Session organized and chaired at the 112th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, IL, November 2013
Food and Social Class: Learning from Students. Paper presented at the 112th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, IL, November 2013
Deception, Negotiation, and the Pursuit of Happiness: How Parenting Style Affects the Dietary Health of American Children. Invited paper presented at the 108thAnnual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, PA, November 2009
Kitchen Consequential: The real and symbolic production of food in restaurants Invited paper presented at the 102nd Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, IL, November 2003
Press
"Mt. Airy-Based Food Anthropologist Studies Middle-Class Eating Habits Locally," WHYY, May 28, 2014.
