The New Directions in Anthropology (NDIA) conference was born at the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. It was created with the intention to present graduate students with opportunities to build relationships and exchange ideas with colleagues at a peer institution, to receive feedback on their work from faculty outside their own department, and to contribute to their professionalization as scholars.
2024 New Directions in Anthropology XIII: Changing Climates
Keynote Speakers: Dr. Nedra Lee (UMass Boston, Anthropology) and Dr. Mubbashir Razvi (American University )
2019 New Directions in Anthropology XII: Everyday Anthropology
Keynote Speakers: Dr. Patrick Gallagher (University of Texas San Antonio, Anthropology) and Dr. Lina Valencia (Global Wildlife Conservation)
2018 New Directions in Anthropology XI: Di-visions
Keynote Speakers: Dr. Maria Luz Garcia (Eastern Michigan University)
2017 New Directions in Anthropology X
Keynote Speakers: Dr. Courtney Morris (Penn State)
2016 New Directions in Anthropology IX
Keynote Speakers: Dr. Whitney Battle-Baptiste (Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the W E. B. DuBois Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
2015 New Directions in Anthropology VIII
Co-organized with Rice University
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Martin F. Manalansan IV (Associate Professor of Asian American Studies, Anthropology, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Plenary Speakers: Jason Pine (SUNY Purchase) and Dr. Mary Jo Galindo (principal investigator with Atkins, a local engineering firm)
Co-organized with Rice University
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Hirokazu Miyazaki (Professor of Anthropology and Director of the East Asia Program at Cornell University)
2013 New Directions in Anthropology VI
Co-organized with Rice University
Keynote Speaker: Dr. John Jackson (Richard Perry University Professor of Communication, Africana Studies, and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania)
2012 New Directions in Anthropology V
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Rusty Barrett (University of Kentucky)
2011 New Directions in Anthropology IV
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Farha Ghannam (Swarthmore College)
2010 New Directions in Anthropology III
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jemima Pierre (PhD., University of Texas)
2009 New Directions in Anthropology II
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Adam Gordon (PhD., University of Texas, 2004)
2008 New Directions in Anthropology I
Archived links from past NDIAs:
UT Austin webpages: