William Jankowiak

Professor of Anthropology
Expertise: Chinese Family, Chinese Ethnicity, Polygamous Communities, Love and Intimacy

Biography

William Jankowiak is an internationally recognized authority on urban Chinese society, urban Mongols, Mormon fundamentalist polygyny, and love around the world.

Jankowiak is often invited to present the results of his research as well called on by media to provide background information on various topics. His research has been featured in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, Time magazine, NPR, History Channel, TLC, ABC Primetime, and NBC.

Jankowiak has authored over 115 academic and professional publications. He is the author of Sex, Death, and Hierarchy in a Chinese City: An Anthropological Account (Columbia University, 1993);  editor of Romantic Passion: A Universal Experience? (Columbia University, 1995), and Intimacies: Between Love and Sex (Columbia University, 2008); and (with Dan Bradburd) Stimulating Trade: Drugs, Labor and Expansion (Arizona University, 2003).

In addition, he has edited two special journal volumes: Well Being, Family Affections, and Ethical Nationalism in Urban China (Journal of Urban Anthropology), (with Jiemin Bao) Polygynous Society: Ethnographic Overviews from Five Cultures, and a book-length overview (with Robert Moore) on the Chinese family (Polity Press). His current writing projects include completing City Days, City Nights: The Individual and Social Life in a Chinese City: 1981-2011 (Columbia University Press). Presently, he is completing an ethnography of a Mormon Fundamentalist polygamous community (Columbia University Press).

Education

  • Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara

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William Jankowiak In The News

The Guardian
We do it sitting in a tree, under the mistletoe, at midnight to ring in the new year. In fairytales, the act transforms frogs into princes and awakens heroines from enchanted slumber. We make up with it, seal with it, and – in Romeo Montague’s case at least – die with it.
Slate
Is deep kissing a universal human behavior?
Awaken
A new study finds that half of human cultures don’t practice romantic lip-on-lip kissing. Animals don’t tend to bother either. So how did it evolve?
Popular Science
Humans are born with instincts for crying and smiling, but not for kissing. Sometime in the past, our ancestors had the idea to smack their mouths together and call it romantic. And though we may not know who gave the first smooch, ancient records of these steamy sessions are helping us piece together when people started locking lips.

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