麻豆社

Sociology and Anthropology

Christina Davis, Professor of Anthropology
Anthropology Program Coordinator

Christina Davis

Education

  • Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of Michigan, 2011
  • Certificate Degree in South Asian Studies, University of Michigan, 2011
  • M.A. in Social Sciences, University of Chicago, 2003
  • B.A in Anthropology, University of Michigan, 2001

Teaching Areas

Linguistic Anthropology, Sociocultural Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and South Asia Studies.

Courses Taught

  • Anthropology 110: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
  • Anthropology 210: Medical Anthropology
  • Anthropology 380: Language and Culture
  • Anthropology 419: Anthropological Theory

Christina Davis's research focuses on multilingual education, language policy, digital media practices, and youth in Sri Lanka and India. She has published in numerous peer-reviewed journals including Anthropological Quarterly, Annual Review of Anthropology, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Journal of Language, Education, and Ideology, The International Journal of the Sociology of Langauge, Signs & Society, and Language & Communication. Her first book, which came out of her long-term research in Sri Lanka,听听 (Oxford University Press, 2020), incorporates ethnographic research conducted during and after the Sri Lankan civil war to investigate the tension between ethnic conflict and multilingual education policy in the linguistic and social practices of Sri Lankan minority youth. She is currently working on a project on language policy, Tamil identity, and place in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her article, "" (Anthropological Quarterly 2025), contributes to language-focused approaches to large-scale civic movements by analyzing Sri Lankan youths' efforts to make the 2022 Colombo-based protest movement trilingual in Sinhala, Tamil, and English.听

Cover of The Struggle for a Multilingual Future by Christina Davis.

Her forthcoming book, Mother Tongue and English: The Politics of Language in Indian Higher Education (Cambridge University Press), co-authored with , is based on their ethnographic research at higher education institutions in northern and western India from 2020 to 2024. The book is the first to examine Indian students' 听reflections on mother tongue, a concept that has been pervasive since the colonial period but is rarely questioned in language and education policy and educational institutions. It also demonstrates the struggle the students face to make sense of the crucial place of English in their academic and social lives.听

She is an editorial board member of and an editorial advisory board member of . She is a member of the American Anthropological Association, the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, and the American Institute for Sri Lankan studies.

Publications (Click for PDFs)

Books and Edited Volumes

Davis, Christina P., and Chaise LaDousa. "Mother Tongue and English: The Politics of Language at Indian Universities." Under contract, Cambridge University Press.听

Special Journal Issues

Peer Reviewed Articles, Book Chapters, etc.


Davis, Christina P. and Chaise LaDousa. 2024, in press. 鈥淪outh Asian Englishes in Linguistic Landscapes.鈥� In Handbook of South Asian English, edited by Rakesh Bhatt. New York: Oxford University Press.

听LaDousa, Chaise and Christina P. Davis. 2024, in press. 鈥淪outh Asian Englishes in Advertising.鈥� In Handbook of South Asian English, edited by Rakesh Bhatt. New York: Oxford University Press.

Davis, Christina P., and Chaise LaDousa. 2023. 鈥淚deologies of Mother Tongue at an Indian University: From Stage to Discussion.鈥� Journal of Education, Language, and Ideology 1(1): 6鈥�32. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8365025

LaDousa, Chaise and Christina P. Davis. 2022. Medium in South Asia: Ethnography, Discourse, and Policy. In Chaise LaDousa and Christina P. Davis (eds.), Language, Education, and Identity: Medium in South Asia, 1鈥�18. New York: Routledge.

Davis, Christina P. 2020. "Trilingual Blunders: Signboards, Social Media, and Transnational Sri Lankan Tamil Publics." Special issue, Signs and Society 8(1): 1鈥�7.

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Davis, Christina P. 2013. 鈥淟ocating Voicing: Multilingualism, Ethnic Conflict, and the Configuration of Difference among Sri Lankan Muslims.鈥� Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies. University of Tilburg. Paper # 62.

Davis, Christina P., and Grant P. Upson. 2005. 鈥淪pectatorship, Fandom, and Nationalism in the South Asian Diaspora: the 鈥�03 Cricket World Cup.鈥� International Journal of the History of Sport, 21:3/4.

Davis, Christina P., and Grant P. Upson. 2005. 鈥淪pectatorship, Fandom, and Nationalism in the South Asian Diaspora: the 鈥�03 Cricket World Cup.鈥� In Boria Majumdar and J. A. Mangam (eds.), Sport in South Asian Society Past and Present, with an Introduction by Dipesh Chakrabarty (295鈥�313). London: Routledge.

Blogs and Interviews

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Contact Info

Office: Morgan Hall 409
Phone: (309) 298-1056
E-mail: c-davis@wiu.edu
Website: