Dr. Brian A. HOEY

Hoey received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan.  His research encompasses a number of themes including personhood and place, migration, narrative identity and life-transition, community building, and negotiations between work, family, and self in different social, historical, and environmental contexts.  Longstanding interests in career change, personal identity and the moral meanings of work lead to his project as a postdoctoral fellow at the Alfred P. Sloan Center for Ethnography of Everyday Life on “New Work,” unconventional arrangements of work, family and community life explored by so-called free-agents of the post-industrial economy.  His dissertation research in Northwest Lower Michigan explored non-economic or “life-style” migration where downsized and downshifting corporate workers relocate as a means of starting over.  As a Fulbright Scholar in Indonesia, he studied the contested nature of constructing personally and culturally meaningful space within the process of creating imagined and intentional community in far-flung agrarian settlements within a government migration program.  Hoey’s most recent project considers how  therapeutic ideals are attached to particular physical settings – including purposive communities that range from 19th century moral treatment asylums to today’s New Urbanist developments. 

Dr. Brian A. Hoey

Hoey’s active research agenda is an integral part of teaching.  His goal is to work with students to find personally meaningful ways to apply anthropological knowledge and practice to real world problems.  You may learn more about his work at www.brianhoey.com.   In addition, you may want to view a video presentation detailing his research and teaching interests through a discussion of the core questions that motivate him as a scholar.  The video is 43 minutes long and may be viewed in sections through the table of contents on the left of the screen after you click on "play screencast."

 

 

 

LOCAL RESEARCH PROJECT - (Re)constructing West Virginia

Would you like to participate?

Do you wonder about the future of West Virginia?

If you are interested in participating in a study of community identity and planning, I am asking for your some of your time. Your participation would involve one or more conversations (generally from one to two hours each) which may take place where you choose.  You may wish to have more involvement in the project beyond these initial conversations after you learn more about the project.  I will work with your schedule.

Cultural anthropologists are interested in understanding and documenting people's experiences and perceptions in the course of everyday life.  If you find that you enjoy working with me, I would like to learn more from you.  This may involve spending more time talking with, working with, and being with you over the course of your day.

The purpose of this research is to better understand changes in the way communities and individuals construct meaningful identity in light of broad changes in the economy intensified by global economic restructuring and deindustrialization.

Like Michigan communities where I have most recently worked, in the shadow of Detroit manufacturing, many parts of West Virginia are faced with increasing uncertainty and instability within the context of ongoing deindustrialization.  This research aims to understand how communities react to finding themselves adrift in a competitive, globalizing world in which they are required to aggressively attract both physical and social capital in order to succeed.  What strategies will these communities follow to recovery, if any?  Despite a recent history of often bleak economic conditions, Tri-State communities are perfect places to conduct research on new forms of work, entrepreneurship, community building, and the marketing of place according to emerging cultural and economic models

Download the Project Poster in PDF format.

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CONTACT INFORMATION

 

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Marshall University

One John Marshall Drive

Huntington, WV 25755-2678

 

Phone: (304) 696-3747

hoey  *at*  marshall.edu

 

This research has been approved by the Marshall University's Institutional Review Board as noted in the Approval Letter.

 

teaching at Marshall

You may click on the Bold, Highlighted text to see more information on select courses in PDF format.

FALL TERM 2010

SUMMER TERM 1 2010

SPRING TERM 2010

  • Anthropology 201 - Cultural Anthropology

  • Anthropology 361 - Ethnographic Research

  • Anthropology 465 - Anthropology of Global Problems

  • Anthropology 600 - Ethnographic Methods

FALL TERM 2009

  • Anthropology 201 - Cultural Anthropology

  • Anthropology 362 - Health, Culture & Society

  • Sociology 483 - Special Topics: Health, Culture & Society

SUMMER TERM I 2009

SPRING TERM 2009

  • Anthropology 343 - Ethnographic Research

  • Anthropology 451 - Capstone Experience

  • Sociology 481 - Special Topics: Ethnographic Research

FALL TERM 2008

SPRING TERM 2008

FALL TERM 2007

  • Anthropology 201 - Cultural Anthropology

  • Anthropology 343 - Anthropological Research Methods

  • Anthropology 427 - Ethnic Relations

 

Press Coverage of Research

Please click on Bold, Highlighted text to see the articles or hear audio.  NOTE:  You will leave this site.

PRINT

Huntington wrestles with image, attitude - Bryan Chambers reports on the prospects and challenges for citizen-driven change in Huntington, West Virginia in this June 14th 2009 article for the Herald-Dispatch newspaper

Create Huntington calls on citizens - Bryan Chambers reports on the findings of a study detailing the prospects and challenges for growth and change in the community of Huntington, West Virginia in this May 19th 2009 article for the Herald-Dispatch newspaper

Cabell County, Huntington poised for growth, progress -Tyson Compton, new president of the Cabell Huntington Convention and Visitors Bureau, comments on the opportunities for economic growth in the Tri-State region in this March 22nd  2009 article for the Herald-Dispatch newspaper

Rural Renaissance - John Ivanko reports on the contribution made by the Life-style Migration Project to understanding the phenomenon of urban to rural migration in an article for Michigan Today, Vol. 35(1) in 2004.

In Pursuit of the Dream - The April 2004 edition of Traverse Magazine has a feature story on the Life-style Migration Project.  You may download the file in PDF format.

Making Time for Tradition - Traverse Magazine's interesting article on family traditions which ran in the November 2001 issue and includes my commentary on the importance of ritual and reference to my ongoing fieldwork project on working families.  You may download the file in PDF format.

Come back to the five & dime, Margaret Mead, Margaret Mead - In an article published nationally in July 2000, The Associated Press takes a detailed look at the Life-style Migration Research Project.

Life-style Migration - An article from the Traverse City Record Eagle.

RADIO

NPR affiliate WICA-FM 91.5 - Bob Allen reporting for "Points North," a 1 Hour Call-in Show, 27 January 2006.  Thanks to IPR, I have archived the audio files on my website. 

Rural Life -- 27 January 2002

Lead-in: Since the age of steamships northern Michigan has been a destination. People flocked here and left behind the grit of city life if only for a vacation. But in the last few decades more transients have made "up north" their permanent home. Quite a few seek a more authentic experience or a chance to remake themselves. But some find the allure of nature doesn't match their expectations. This week on Points North we'll explore the real and imagined in rural life. [mp3 audio]

NPR Affiliate, WICA, 91.5 FM - Peter Payette, News Director at Interlochen Public Radio prepared a detailed report on the project that aired the week of 21st January 2002.  Thanks to IPR, I have archived the audio files on my website.

Part I -- 24 January 2002

Lead-in: For most of the 20th century, Americans migrated to cities for jobs.  But in the seventies, demographers found people were leaving urban areas for the country, for no apparent reason.  One anthropologist calls this phenomenon life-style migration.  And he's been in Traverse City studying it.   [Real Media]

Part II -- 25 January 2002

Lead-in: This winter, there have been discussions about inviting people from New York City - people traumatized by the attacks of September 11th - to Northern Michigan for respite.  The idea of the area as a place of refuge is not new.  It's at least as old as the crumbling state hospital.  And as Peter Payette reports, it continues to draw people here today. [Real Media]

NPR Affiliate, Michigan Public Radio - Charity Nebbe of MPR conducted an interview with me for the program "Stateside."  This show aired on Tuesday, 25th May 2004 on Michigan Public Radio NPR affiliate stations including 91.7 FM Ann Arbor/Detroit; 104.1 FM West Michigan; and, 91.1 FM Flint. 

[mp3 audio]

NPR Affiliate, Michigan Public Radio - A report for Michigan Public Radio conducted by Naomi Goetz to which I contributed.  This report aired on 30th September 2004 on Michigan Public Radio NPR affiliate stations including 91.7 FM Ann Arbor/Detroit; 104.1 FM West Michigan; and, 91.1 FM Flint.  Goetz looks at return migration to Michigan and efforts by the State to attract and retain residents through such initiatives as "Cool Cities." 

[mp3 audio]

TELEVISION

Tom Kramer of NBC Affiliate TV7&4 news in Northern Michigan conducted an interview with me on my work with in-migrants to the region.

Please see an excerpt from that interview on the MSNBC website.

 

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