Hayden Kantor recently joined the Department of as the Postdoctoral Associate for Global Engaged Learning. In this newly created position, Kantor will develop a multi-year curriculum to help train undergraduates in the skills and analytical approaches that will promote their success in off-campus learning and research. Kantor will assist the Engaged Learning Committee in developing a series of courses that will help prepare Cornell students for a range of experiences beyond the classroom. “Hayden’s commitment to innovative pedagogy and his precocious understanding of an anthropological approach to engagement made him a perfect fit for this position,” said Adam Smith, Chair of the Department of at Cornell.
Kantor is a sociocultural anthropologist. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell’s Department of in May 2016 before taking up his current position. His research addresses the relationship between capitalism, food, and ethics in South Asia. As the instructor of his First-year Writing Seminar "Food Values: The Economics and Ethics of Eating Well," Kantor was the recipient of the Knight Institute's 2014 James F. Slevin Assignment Sequence Prize, Honorable Mention. In this award-winning assignment, students tried their hand at writing ethnographic narratives about campus food cultures. Similarly, this new engaged curriculum will emphasize ethnographic methods and writing as a means of prompting students to engage with the world around them.
"Our goal is to create an engaged curriculum that will be of lasting benefit to the department," said Kantor. "It's exciting to provide students with the opportunity to apply some of the insights that they have learned in other anthropology classes to projects and activities beyond the classroom. We aim for students to develop their own anthropological skill-set through real world encounters--on campus, in the Ithaca community, and abroad.
He added, "So far I've encountered a lot of enthusiasm for this new program across campus. I'm looking forward to working with the faculty in the department and our partners to make it a reality."
This position is funded by awards from Global Cornell, Engaged Cornell, and the College of Arts and Sciences’ Academic Innovation awards.
Visit Hayden’s Faculty Page to learn more about his work http://anthropology.cornell.edu/hayden-kantor
