Steven Borish, Ph.D.

Author of: Land of the Living

Born in Philadelphia, Steven Borish took his B.A. in Sociology-Anthropology at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. For two years he was a Peace Corps teacher in the Somali Republic, East Africa, and for one year taught fifth grade in an inner-city school in Philadelphia. He has also spent time studying how culture influences the educational process in Israeli kibbutzim.

After the successful completion of his doctorate in anthropology (Stanford University, 1982) and his initial fieldwork in Denmark (1983–84), he spent two years in postdoctoral research and study, including an M.S. degree in the Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University. During his time at Stanford he studied genetics, plant physiology, biochemistry and paleoanthropology (with a special focus on the anatomy and evolutionary history of human walking).

His present fields of interest are anthropology and education (especially the human life cycle in cross-cultural perspective), human evolution, the ecological consequences of high technology, and the development of a critical perspective on Western science. He has taught courses in these areas at Stanford University, the University of Copenhagen, the University of Trondheim, and Swarthmore College where he was Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology from 1987–90. His main geographical area of interest is Scandinavia. He has been carrying out a study of education and socialization in Norway, with special focus on the Norwegian barnehage, or kindergarten, as a Fulbright Professor at the Norwegian Centre for Child Research (the University of Trondheim). His initial field research in Denmark was also supported by a Fulbright Grant.

Professor Borish is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Human Development, California State University, Hayward, California. He also teaches in the Program in Social and Cultural Studies at Dominican University, San Rafael, California.


Order Information / Book List / Blue Dolphin Home Page