Teaching & Mentoring

Dear students and prospective students,

In a gist, I teach undergraduate and graduate students via formal courses, and I mentor graduate MA and PhD students as well as undergraduate Honors students in research with human subjects. My students learn to develop and conduct independent research projects, become certified in research ethics (CITI Certification), and write and defend their MA or Honors-in-the-Major theses or PhD dissertations.

I would call my advising style “micromanagement light” – working closely with and pushing students to do their best work, while expecting from them reliability and independent thinking. My goal is always the same: to help my students achieve what they envision for themselves.

Student Research

I am dedicated to advising and mentoring students in independently-designed research with human subjects. I advise medical, cultural, and applied anthropology PhD, MA, and Honors students in a variety of projects mainly situated in Florida, but also abroad. My advising approach is individualized and student-centered: I work with students one-on-one to help them develop their own research projects that have a strong scholarly and academic merit, but are also intellectually stimulating and interesting to my students. I also work with students to help them publish their theses’ results and present their work at conferences.

I am interested in working with graduate and honors students in the areas and topics below:

  • Medical and cultural anthropology
  • Applied/public anthropology

Topical areas:

  • Health and healthcare
  • Social inequalities
  • Reproductive rights, health and policies
  • Gender and/or sexuality
  • Gender and governance
  • Power and politics
  • Policy pertaining to health, gender, human rights
  • Human rights
  • State-church relations (especially in the context of shaping policy)
  • Non-profit/ nongovenmental organizations and their work and role

My Students’ Publications in Peer-Reviewed Journals: 

2022   Reeves, Karli, and Joanna Mishtal. “Situating Parents’ Circumcision Decision-Making within Health Research, Knowledge, and Experience” Social Science & Medicine: Qualitative Research in Health vol. 2.

2019   Davenport, Sarah, and Joanna Mishtal. “Whose Sustainability? An Analysis of a Community Farming Program’s Food Justice and Environmental Sustainability Agenda,” Culture, Agriculture, Food & Environment. Online early view: Feb. 14, 2019.

2018  Milanés, Lilian, and Joanna Mishtal. “Too Little, Too Late? The Challenges in Expanding Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare for Men.” Anthropology in Action: Journal for Applied Anthropology in Policy & Practice 25(2):13-23.

2018 Gray, Deven, and Joanna Mishtal. “Managing an Epidemic: Zika Interventions and Community Responses in Belize.” Global Public Health Journal 14(1):9-22.

2018 Manzano, Russell, Joanna Mishtal, and Shana Harris. “The Effect of Second Reception Center Practices on Refugee Experiences in Sicily.” Human Organization 77(2): 79-89.

2017 Franklin Ashley, Mishtal Joanna, Johnson Teresa, Simms-Cendan Judith. “Rowers’ Behaviors, Attitudes, and Safety Concerns Related to Exercise, Training, and Competition during Pregnancy.” The Cureus Journal of Medical Science 9(8):e1534, pp. 1-26.

2016 Kersch, Adam, and Joanna Mishtal. “Asylum in Crisis: Migrant Policy, Entrapment, and the Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Siracusa, Italy.” Refugee Survey Quarterly 35(4): 97-121.

2015 Franklin Ashley, Mishtal Joanna, Johnson Teresa, Simms-Cendan Judith. “Rowers’ behaviors and perceptions about competitive exercise during pregnancy.” Obstetrics & Gynecology. 125:48S. (published abstract)

2012 Sivén, Jacqueline, and Joanna Mishtal. “Yoga as Entrée to Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and Medically Pluralistic Practices.” Human Organization 71(4):348-357.

Student Recognition

My Students (some of them, at least)

My graduate and honors students conduct some amazing research and have been recognized for their independent scholarship. They also present their research at major international conferences, including the American Anthropological Association (AAA) conference and the Society for Applied Anthropology Conference.

Celebration of student achievements, 2019.
AAA Conference 2017, Washington DC