Biographical Information:

Curriculum Vitae
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B.A. - College of William and Mary
J.D. - New York University School of Law
M.A., Ph.D. - University of Wisconsin - Madison

DISCIPLINE: Cultural Anthropology

RESEARCH: North American Indians; political economy; economic development; economic anthropology; globalization; indigenous knowledge; legal anthropology; Lakota culture and history

CLASSES: Cultures and the Global System; Indians of North America; Indians Today; Development in Indian Country; Comparative Legal Systems; Economic Anthropology

Dr. Sherman's research interests focus on political economy and the effects of globalization, the socially embedded nature of the economy, and the role of local institutions in the construction of the world-system, both currently and throughout history. Her research on the Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River and Rosebud Indian Reservations in South Dakota involves issues of economic development, time allocation, social network analysis, native entrepreneurship, access to credit, and welfare reform. She worked as a legal services attorney in Pine Ridge and is interested in comparative legal systems, alternative dispute resolution, and the economic effects of legal structures. She has published three books, Lakota Culture, World Economy, and Welfare Reform in Persistent Rural Poverty. Dr. Sherman also has published work in American Anthropologist, Rural Sociology, Journal of Economic Issues, Research in Human Capital and Development, Human Ecology and American Indian Culture and Research Journal. She is the President of the High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology, and the Associate Director of Educational Programs for the School for Global Environmental Sustainability.