Sociology and Anthropology
Christina Davis, Professor of Anthropology
Anthropology Program Coordinator
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, The Struggle for a Multilingual Future: Youth and Education in Sri Lanka (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, "The Language Politics of Aragalaya: A Multilingual Protest Movement in Postwar Sri Lanka" (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.
Her forthcoming book, Mother Tongue and English: The Politics of Language in Indian Higher Education (Cambridge University Press), co-authored with Chaise LaDousa, 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' 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.
She is an editorial board member of Journal of Linguistic Anthropology and an editorial advisory board member of Journal of Education, Language, and Ideology . 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.
Special Journal Issues
Peer Reviewed Articles, Book Chapters, etc.
Davis, Christina P. and Chaise LaDousa. 2024, in press. “South Asian Englishes in Linguistic Landscapes.” In Handbook of South Asian English, edited by Rakesh Bhatt. New York: Oxford University Press.
LaDousa, Chaise and Christina P. Davis. 2024, in press. “South Asian Englishes in Advertising.” In Handbook of South Asian English, edited by Rakesh Bhatt. New York: Oxford University Press.
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, 1–18. New York: Routledge.
Davis, Christina P. 2013. “Locating Voicing: Multilingualism, Ethnic Conflict, and the Configuration of Difference among Sri Lankan Muslims.” Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies. University of Tilburg. Paper # 62.
Davis, Christina P., and Grant P. Upson. 2005. “Spectatorship, Fandom, and Nationalism in the South Asian Diaspora: the ’03 Cricket World Cup.” International Journal of the History of Sport, 21:3/4.
Davis, Christina P., and Grant P. Upson. 2005. “Spectatorship, Fandom, and Nationalism in the South Asian Diaspora: the ’03 Cricket World Cup.” In Boria Majumdar and J. A. Mangam (eds.), Sport in South Asian Society Past and Present, with an Introduction by Dipesh Chakrabarty (295–313). London: Routledge.
Blogs and Interviews
Interview on T he Struggle for a Multilingual Future , CaMP Anthropology Blog, October 2020.
Christina P. Davis's The Struggle for a Multilingual Future. The Page 99 Test.
Growing Up in the Shadow of Sri Lanka's Civil War. OUP Blog.
Contact Info
Office: Morgan Hall 409
Phone:
(309) 298-1056
E-mail:
c-davis@wiu.edu
Website:
https://christinapdavis.com/
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