Teaching & Mentoring

Dear students and prospective students,

In a gist, I teach undergraduate and graduate students via formal courses (see list below), 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 cultural, medical, and applied anthropology graduate MA students 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. Three anthropology fields (these overlap and are equally important to me):

  • Cultural anthropology
  • Applied/public anthropology
  • Medical anthropology

Topical areas:

  • Health and healthcare
  • Social inequalities
  • Gender and/or sexuality
  • Gender and governance
  • Reproductive rights, health and policies
  • 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 (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.

AAA Conference 2017

AAA Conference 2017, Washington DC

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.

Recognition

Courses

Key Undergraduate & Graduate Courses 

History of Anthropological Thought (ANT 4034; every spring)
Global Health in Anthropological Perspective (ANT 4480; every fall)
Culture, Disease, and Healing (ANT 4408; spring)
Engagement & Social Change: Public Anthropology (ANT 3701; even fall)
Global Health Internship/ Cooperative Education (Internship/Study Abroad)
Honors Undergraduate Thesis (ANT 4970H)

Writing in Anthropology (ANG 5094 – one time in sping 2019)
Public and Applied Anthropology Seminar (ANG 6701; odd fall)
Ethnographic Research Methods Seminar (ANG 6801)
Directed Research (ANG 6918)
Thesis and Dissertation Research