BA Boston College 1976; MA, PhD Cornell University 1989, 1993
Symbolic anthropology, social theory, Russian culture and society, peace and conflict studies
Social and cultural transformation in Russia: poverty, crime, corruption, elites, mafia; comparative anthropology of post-socialism; violence and war in comparative perspective; social theory of weaponry.
"Potato Ontology: Surviving Postsocialism in Russia" in Cultural Anthropology (2009); winner of Cultural Horizons Prize Ries Potato Ontology Cultural Anthropology.pdf
Communal Living in Russia: A Virtual Museum of Soviet Everyday Life, National Endowment for the Humanities Teaching and Learning Resources website, co-authored with Ilya Utekhin, Slava Paperno, and Alice Nakhimovsky (2006-2008)
Book series co-editor, " Culture and Society after Socialism" (Cornell University Press, 2000-present).
"Talking about Talk," in Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie [Ethnographic Perspectives] special issue devoted to Russian Talk (2006).
"Anthropology and Eurasia: Why Culture Matters in the Study of Postsocialism, invited cover essay for AAASS NewsNet (2005)
Russkie Razgovory Russian translation of Russian Talk (Moscow: NLO Press 2005)
"Profiling the Bourgeoisie: the New Elite about Themselves" in Family Ties (Moscow: NLO Press, 2003)Ries Profil' Burzhuaznosti.pdf
"Everyday Comfort and Terror: Anthropology and Local Theory" in New Literary History (2002) Ries Anthropology and Everyday NLH.pdf
"Honest Bandits' and 'Warped People': Russian Narratives about Money, Corruption, and Moral Decay" in Ethnography in Unstable Places (Duke University Press, 2002)
"Russia," chapter in Encyclopedia of National Cultures (MacMillan, 2001); "Russian Culture," in Encyclopedia of Russian History
"Business, Taxes, and Corruption in Russia in Anthropology of East Europe Review (1999)
Russian Talk: Culture and Conversation during Perestroika, (Cornell University Press, 1997)
"The Burden of Mythic Identity: Russian Women at Odds with Themselves" in Feminist Nightmares: Women at Odds - An Anthology of Essays on the Problematics of Sisterhood (New York University Press, 1994)
Other articles in Ethnographic Perspectives and Soviet Ethnography (Moscow); The Anthropology of East Europe Review, Kyoto Journal
Book reviews in American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, Russian Review, Slavic Review, and Slavonica
Guest editor for The Anthropology of East Europe Review (2003, 2002, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1995)
Core Faculty, HESP/OSI Higher Education and Scholarship Development Project (Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia-Montenegro - 2003-2006); Elected Member, AAASS Board of Trustees (2004-06) and Executive Commitee (05-06); NCEEER Board (2000-06): Chair, AAASS Student Prize Committee (2004-06). Co-Founder, SOYUZ: Post-Communist Cultural Studies Interest Group.
Cultural Horizons Prize for "Potato Ontology" (2010); Member (2007-08), Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ; NEH Teaching & Learning Resources Grant (Co-PI with Alice Nakhimovsky, 2006-08); Heldt Prize for the Best Book by a Woman in Slavic and East European Studies, 1997; National Council for Soviet and East European Research, Research Grant for fieldwork on narratives of social change and class stratification in Russia. Colgate University Research Council Grant, 1997; Social Science Research Council Three-Year Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1994-1997; Phi Beta Kappa, National Slavic Honor Society.