Katie Nelson Ph.D.

Anthropologist - Educator

Crowd of people walk toward the camera.
Greetings! I am an anthropologist and instructor of anthropology and sociology at Inver Hills Community College. I am the recipient of the 2022 Minnesota State Board of Trustees Educator of the Year award. My research focuses on migration, identity, belonging, and citizenship(s) in human history and in the contemporary United States, Mexico, and Morocco.
A teen girl holds a photograph of her grandmother and a rose.

Research

Ethnographic and theoretical researcher on migration, identity, belonging, citizenship, migration in human evolution: Mexico, Morocco, US and global perspcetives

Publications

Dedicated to making anthropological knowledge accessible, understandable, and engaging.
Book cover with human, primate and hominin silhouettes

Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology - 2nd ed.

(Co-editor and co-author) The first comprehensive, openly published introductory biological anthropology textbook.

Textbook cover with images of a person, a group and a croud

Gendered Lives: Global Issues

(Co-editor and co-author of two chapters) A gender studies textbook that takes an anthropological approach.

Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology

(Author of two book chapters) The first peer-reviewed open access textbook for cultural anthropology courses. Produced by the Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges and available free of charge for use in any setting.

Ethnographic Insights on Latin America and the Caribbean

(Chapter author) Offers a compelling introduction to the region by providing a series of ethnographic case studies that examine the most pressing issues communities are facing today.

Teaching

Educator of the Year

2022 Winner of Minnesota State Board of Trustees Educator of the Year

Presidential Award

2019 Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges, American Anthropological Association

Instructor, Anthropology & Sociology

2012 - current Inver Hills Community College

Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology

2021 Macalester College