Integrative Anthropology Lab
Our lab is growing!
For both prospective PhD students and postdoc mentees, check out the lab's publications and projects above, as well as the relevant notes below, and think about the kinds of research you would want to conduct. Please email me a CV at mvrsingh@ucdavis.edu along with your research experience, why you’re interested in the lab, and what you hope to work on.
For prospective research assistants (RAs), please write me an email with any relevant academic or research experience, which of the lab projects you’re interested in (see below), and why you’re interested in joining.
Projects seeking research assistants
The Anansi Project. Anansi is a global database of more than 1,500 legends, folktales, and myths from around the world. Research assistants will read through these stories and answer questionnaires about content, narrative structure, and individual characters, while also exploring computational approaches to story annotation. Paid assistantships for UC Davis students will be advertised on Handshake.
Notes for prospective PhD students
I am able to take PhD students through the Department of Anthropology. The relevant links are here.
A PhD in anthropology is not for everyone. I strongly urge anyone considering one to think through the costs and benefits—especially the costs. It will take 6 or more years of your life. Getting an academic job is not easy. The job market is very competitive. There are many more people with PhDs than there are tenure-track academic jobs. A PhD will require focus, commitment, and a lot of work. But if you decide to go through with it and are accepted, you will find a vibrant community ready to engage with your work and ideas. If we end up working together, we can also consider opportunities outside of academia and design your PhD to prepare you for both academic and non-academic paths.
I encourage any student interested in working with me to also work with other professors, whether in our department, another department at UC Davis, or another university. Your research, your thinking, and your long-term career goals will benefit from intellectual cross-fertilization and from learning other methods.
Notes for prospective postdoc mentees
If I have funded postdoc positions available, I will typically advertise them on X. If I do not, we could write a grant or I could support a fellowship. Here is a list of fellowships and other funding opportunities for potential postdocs. (This is a constantly updating list; if you know of opportunities that are not listed there, let me know.)