Background:

Ph.D., Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, 1982
M.A. Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1977
B.A., Anthropology and History, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), 1971

Research Interests:

Robert K. Hitchcock is Professor of Geography and an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA where he has been since August, 2006.  Formerly he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University (2006-2009) and before that was Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he spent 23 years.  At Michigan State University, Hitchcock is a core faculty member in the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations (CGCEO), African Studies, the Center for Advanced Studies in International Development (CASID), the Center for Gender in Global Context (GenCen), the American Indian Studies Program, Peace and Justice Studies, and is currently involved a program focusing on the well-being indigenous, minority, and refugee children in collaboration with the Departments of Social Work and Family and Child Ecology in the College of Social Science.

Over the past several decades, Hitchcock has served as a cultural anthropologist, archaeologist, and in international development consultant on issues ranging from indigenous peoples’ rights and land use planning to social impact analysis and community-based natural resource management, particularly in Africa and North America, with brief work in Central and South America.  His focal areas of concern are human ecology, international socioeconomic development, resettlement, human rights of indigenous peoples, women, refugees, and minorities, and conflict resolution.  Some of his work focuses on hunters and gatherers and deals with socioeconomic change among societies that engage in foraging for part of their livelihoods. 

The Center for Global Change & Earth Observations, Michigan State University
218 Manly Miles Building, 1405 S. Harrison Road, East Lansing, Michigan 48823, Phone: (517) 432-7774