Charles Thompson, Professor of the Practice of Cultural Anthropology

Please note: Charles has left the "Documentary Studies Certificate" group at Duke University; some info here might not be up to date.

My research is centered on critical food studies at the nexus where food justice and immigration meet, with particular linkages to Latin America and the U.S. South.  I am a filmmaker, photographer, oral historian, and writer.   My projects (both completed and current) address such topics as immigration, farmworkers, the US/Mexico border, the US South and its agricultural history, farm foreclosures, and food access.  For more about my work, please see my website: cdthomps.com.  

My latest book, Border Odyssey: Travels Along the US/Mexico Divide (Texas, 2015) is an ethnography and memoir about my travel along the 2,000-mile line that marks the division between the two countries.  My photographs and recent film work and an interactive map that accompany the book are here:  borderodyssey.com

Contact Info:

Office Location:	1317 W Pettigrew St, Durham, NC 27705
Office Phone:	(919) 660-3657
Email Address:
Web Page:	http://cds.aas.duke.edu/

Teaching (Spring 2024):

• CULANTH 290S.02, CURRENT ISSUES (TOPICS) Synopsis

  Class Bldg 106, M 06:30 PM-09:00 PM

  (also cross-listed as ARTSVIS 290S.02, EDUC 290S.05, ETHICS 290S.02, RIGHTS 290S.02)

• LS 780.01, SELECTED TOPICS Synopsis

  GLS 2114 0101, Tu 03:30 PM-06:30 PM

Education:

Ph.D.	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	1998
M.A.	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	1994
M.S.	North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University	1984
B.A.	Emory & Henry College	1979

Keywords:

History • Religion

Curriculum Vitae

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

1. Charles D Thompson, J, Border Odyssey Travels Along the U.S./Mexico Divide (April, 2015), pp. 328 pages, University of Texas Press, ISBN 9780292756632  [abs]
2. Thompson, C, Guestworkers: Farmworkers, filmmakers, and their obligations in the field, in Viewpoints: Visual Anthropologists at Work, vol. 9780292793675 (January, 2013), pp. 181-197, ISBN 9781859184967  [abs]
3. Thompson, C, Guestworkers: Farmworkers, filmmakers, and their obligations in the field, in Project Muse 4, vol. 9780292793675 (2013), pp. 181-197, DUMMY PUBID, ISBN 9781859184967  [abs]
4. Thompson, C, Spirits of Just Men (April, 2011), pp. 304 pages, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 9780252095269  [abs]
5. Thompson, C; Wiggins, MF, The Human Cost of Food (January, 2009), University of Texas Press, ISBN 9780292773646  [abs]