An oil painting by Juan de Pareja, titled The Calling of San Mateo, in English, or La vocación de San Mateo, in Spanish. It was painted in 1661, and is part of the collection at the Museo de Prado in Madrid. Here is how the Prado describes the painting on its website: "Christ appears in the tax collector’s office and calls on Matthew to follow him. Matthew, depicted raising his right hand to his breast and with a star above his head, would become one of Christ’s most faithful followers and the author of one of the Gospels. Pareja, Velázquez’s former slave, places considerable emphasis on the setting of this work and also includes himself in the composition. He is located on the left, proudly looking out at the viewer and holding in his right hand a piece of paper with his signature."

Source: Juan de Pareja, La vocación de San Mateo

The Contemporary Ethnography and Inequality Workshop showcases scholarship that uses ethnographic methods to address social, economic, and political inequality. The workshop offers a venue for leading scholars and graduate students to present ethnographic research and work-in-progress. Attendance is open to faculty and students from across Harvard, nearby universities, and throughout the country and globe. While regular attendance is the norm, visitors are welcome. The CEI workshop is supported by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Sociology, the Department of Anthropology, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. We meet approximately six times each semester on Thursdays from noon to 1:30 PM Eastern time in Eliot Lyman Room, Longfellow Hall (13 Appian Way, Cambridge) and via Zoom for those who cannot attend. 

We are thrilled to announce our Spring 2024 workshop series:

January 25, 2024: Rachel Ellis, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at University of Maryland, on In This Place Called Prison: Women's Religious Life in the Shadow of Punishment (University of California Press, 2023)

February 8, 2024: Gabriella ColemanProfessor of Anthropology at Harvard University, on "The Hack-and-Leak and the Rise of an Activist Tactic"

February 22, 2024: Yanilda Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School on "Rebuilding Citizenship After State Violence"

March 7, 2024: Student presentations - Edom Tesfa, PhD student at Harvard University, on “Engaging in and learning about critical care as a scholar-practitioner" and Michael Vázquez, PhD student at Harvard University, on “"Bigger than a Syllabus": Cross-Racial Learning and Solidarity at the College of Ethnic Studies”

March 28, 2024: Nicholas LimerickAssociate Professor of Anthropology and Education, Columbia University Teachers College, on "Translating the law to Kichwa: Intertextuality, bilingual education, and state power in Ecuador"

April 11, 2024: Jason De León, Professor of Anthropology, UCLA

April 18, 2024: Neil Gong, Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of California, San Diego, on his new book Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics: Mental Illness and Homelessness in Los Angeles (University of Chicago Press, 2024) ZOOM ONLY

All Zoom invites will be sent through our CEI Workshop mailing list, which can be joined here: https://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/cei. To keep our community secure, when joining the mailing list, please use your university/college-affiliated email address. You can also email Joey Wallerstein (jwallerstein@g.harvard.edu) or Woohee Kim (woohee_kim@g.harvard.edu), Workshop Co-Coordinators, for Zoom links.

Note to Harvard University students: Sociology 3327: Contemporary Ethnography and Inequality Workshop is the four-unit workshop course (SAT/UNSAT) for participating in our meetings from 12-1:30 PM. Consistent attendance is required to receive course credit. The CEI Workshop is directed by Gabrielle Oliveira, Jorge Paulo Lemann Associate Professor of Education and of Brazil Studies at Harvard University, and David Showalter, Assistant Professor of Sociology. The CEI Workshop is also grateful for support within the Department of Sociology from Christopher Winship, Diker-Tishman Professor of Sociology.