Biography
Jacob Hickman did his undergraduate at Brigham Young University, where he majored in psychology and anthropology. He then pursued graduate study at the University of Chicago in the Department of Comparative Human Development, an interdisciplinary program where psychological anthropology is one core area of specialization. There he was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and later received NSF funding to conduct comparative ethnographic research on the psychocultural dimensions of the Hmong resettlement experience in the United States and Thailand. In 2011 he finished graduate study and took a position in the Department of Anthropology at Brigham Young University.
Research Interests
Jacob R. Hickman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Brigham Young University, where he specializes in psychological and medical anthropology, cultural psychology, the anthropology of religion, and Southeast Asian studies. He has conducted over 50 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Hmong communities in Thailand, Vietnam, China, France, Australia, Alaska, Wisconsin, and Minnesota since 2004. His current research interests include understanding how Hmong communities, ritual practice, morality and ethics, healing practices, family life, and subjectivities have changed at various points in the global diaspora. In particular, Jacob seeks to understand how social life in these various countries and communities where Hmong have migrated affect these various elements of Hmong social life. One of Jacob’s current projects involves understanding new religious movements in the Hmong diaspora, including a variety of millenarian movements and various attempts to establish a universal, standardized form of Hmong religious rites. He is also undertaking a new project that seeks to understand the cultures of cattle ranching in the American West, including how rural communities deal with existential threats to their values and ways of life. More information on his research projects and publications can be found at jacobrhickman.com.Teaching Interests
Psychological Anthropology and Cultural Psychology; Visual anthropology; Ethnographic Research Designs and Methods; Ethnonationalism and Southeast Asia; Moral and Ritual Institutions; Kinship and Gender; Ethnographic Data Analysis; Hmong Culture, Religion, and Politics; Contemporary Anthropological Theory; Ethnographic WritingEducation
- PhD, Comparative Human Development , Psychological Anthropology / Cultural Psychology, University of Chicago (2011)
- Master of Arts, Comparative Human Development , Psychological Anthropology / Cultural Psychology, University of Chicago (2007)
- BS/BA, Psychology / Sociocultural Anthropology , Brigham Young University (2005)
Honors and Awards
- Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (2018 - 2019)
- Mellon Foundation/Social Sciences Dissertation-Year Fellowship, University of Chicago, Social Sciences Division (2010 - 2011)
- National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, National Science Foundation (2009 - 2011)
Memberships
- Association for Asian Studies (2021 - Present)
- Society for the Anthropology of Religion (2011 - Present)
- Society for Research on Adolescence (2008 - Present)
- Society for Psychological Anthroplogy (2006 - Present)
- Society for Applied Anthroplogy (2004 - Present)
- American Anthropological Association (2003 - Present)
- Society for Research on Adolescence (2010 - 2011)
Professional Citizenship
- Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Comparative Studies in Society and History (2014 - 2014)
- Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Anthropological Quarterly (2013 - 2013)
- Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Cultural Anthropology (Journal of the Society for Cultural Anthropology) (2008 - 2008)