Elena Popa, Ph.D.

Elena Popa, Ph.D.

Title: Assistant Professor of Instruction
Research Specialty: Cultural Anthropology
Phone: 330-972-2057
Email: epopa@uakron.edu

Biography

Dr. Elena Popa is a sociocultural anthropologist who researches the connections between migration, state structures, national and supranational citizenship, and ethnicity. Her work explores how these forces shape processes of exclusion/inclusion and notions of identity and belonging. Dr. Popa conducted long-term ethnographic research with migrants in both France and Romania. She brings these rich field experiences into her classes, making complex global issues relatable and engaging for her students. She is currently working on a monograph, which focuses on intra-European migrations, specifically the migration of Romanian nationals—ethnic Roma and Romanians—to France since the fall of state socialism in 1989. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington, where she also served as President of the Romanian Studies Organization.

Publications

 ‘You are Romanian. This is going to be a problem’: class, desire, and educated migrant women in France, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 50(6), 1390-1408, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2085082

“Roma and Romanian Migrants in France,” part of “Romanian Mobilities Series,” Anthropology News, 58: e332-e337, 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/AN.348

Review of Ruderal City: Ecologies of Migration, Race, and Urban Nature in Berlin by Bettina Stoetzer. Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 80, Number 1: 87-88, 2024 https://doi.org/10.1086/728311

Review of Materializing Difference: Consumer Culture, Politics, and Ethnicity among Romanian Roma, by Péter Berta. Anthropological Quarterly 94: 567-572, 2021 https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/anq.2021.0033

Review of Gypsy Economy: Romani Livelihoods and Notions of Worth in the 21st Century by eds. Micol Brazzabeni, Manuela Ivone Cunha, and Martin Fotta (eds.). Analize: Journal of Gender and Feminist Studies, Issue 7(21):97-99, 2016.

Education

  • Ph.D. Anthropology, Indiana University
  • M.A. Anthropology, Indiana University
  • M.A. Ethnology, Cultural Anthropology, and Folklore, University of Bucharest, Romania
  • B.A. Romanian Language and Literature & Ethnology and Folklore, University of Bucharest, Romania

Courses

  • Human Cultures
  • Migrants and Refugees
  • Globalization and Culture