Chile, Latin America, queer studies, postcolonial theory, gender, sexuality, trans studies, social movements, queer temporalities, social media, memory, the archive

Baird Campbell is currently a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at Rice University, and a FWIS Instructor of “Social Media” at Rice’s Program for Writing and Communication. At Rice University, Baird’s dissertation research examines how social media is useful both as a tool for activism and as informal archive for trans* people in Chile.

Originally from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Baird earned BAs in French and Francophone Studies, Latin American Studies, and Applied Linguistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After 2 years as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Madrid, Spain, he spent one semester as adjunct Spanish faculty at Finlandia University before completing an MA in Latin American Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans. Baird’s MA thesis analyzed Chile’s mainstream LGBT movement through the lens of hegemonic masculinity, exploring its deployment at three crucial moments in the country’s modern LGBT movement.

Beyond his PhD work, Baird is one of the former co-coordinators of the Ethnography Studio, as well as a former member and officer in the Ethnographic Film Society. He currently serves as Web Content Editor for the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and as a Teaching Assistant for Rice Online. He is also the editor of Platypus, the official blog of the Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing.