Robin Balliger earned her PhD in anthropology at Stanford University and currently serves as Lecturer in the Anthropology Department. She was Associate Professor and Chair of “Art, Place, and Public Studies” and Liberal Arts at the San Francisco Art Institute for over twenty years (until SFAI closed in 2022). Balliger’s current project is on the City of Oakland, particularly on arts, culture, and racial politics in the context of urban restructuring. Balliger previously conducted extensive research in Trinidad on popular music, media expansion, and identity formation in national/transnational space. She has received fellowships from Fulbright, MacArthur Foundation, National Science Foundation, Mellon Foundation, she was awarded the Textor Award for Outstanding Anthropological Creativity, and students at SFAI have honored her with teaching awards. Her publications appear in The Global Resistance Reader, Trinidad Carnival: The Cultural Politics of a Transnational Festival, Anthropological Forum, Media Fields Journal, and Race, Poverty, and the Environment. Prior to attending graduate school, Balliger was a musician and activist in San Francisco. In 1979, she co-founded The Appliances, an experimental punk-funk band and in 1983 she founded popular world beat band Big City, with guitarist Joe Gore. She was also a founding member of Komotion International, a legendary artist collective, gallery, and performance space that exemplified the radical politics and creativity of SF’s Mission District.

Contact: robinballiger@gmail.com

Curriculum Vitae