Dr. Debra Vidali is the Director of the Anthropology Theater Lab, and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Theater Studies at Emory University. Her research and teaching focus on embodied and multisensorial forms of knowledge.
Vidali produces hybrid work — through words, sounds, bodies, space, observation, images, speculation, and performance modalities — as a sociocultural anthropologist, experimental ethnographer, theater-maker, poet, linguist, and scholar-activist.
Recent projects have explored themes of generational wisdom, ancestral voices, Indigenous sovereignty, civic engagement, media overload, the phenomenology of time, and the frontiers of knowing.
As an ethnographer with staibdance’s between dog and wolf, Vidali is currently producing a series of chronicles. Other publications and projects are listed here and on ORCiD.
Jo Abillama (she/her, they/them) is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology. They are interested in exploring how narratives defining mental health have spread from the West to the Global South and how neuronormativity is imposed culturally and socially, in both psychiatric settings and regular daily interactions. Jo Abillama works with arts-based research methodologies, specifically performance ethnography, as an avenue for decolonizing knowledge production and engaging with non-academic publics. Jo Abillama holds an MA in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (Lebanese American University, 2022), an MA in Theater (Kansas State University, 2015), and a BA in Psychology (American University of Beirut, 2013).
Alice Stern (Anthropology and Human Biology & Dance, C’28) is inspired by her experiences as a practicing dancer to explore and understand performance and the communities of performers in an anthropological sense. She is interested in dance as a potent form of reflection and communication, and how interaction with dance as an embodied art form shapes the worldview of both performers and viewers. Alice is a Research Assistant on the between dog and wolf project with Dr. Vidali.
Rose Xu (Anthropology, C’26). Rose is working on a Senior Capstone Project analyzing the ethnographic scholarship on theater-making. Rose also works as a Research Assistant with Dr. Vidali.
Daniel Sorungbe (Anthropology and Human Biology, Religion Minor, C’26) is currently working on an Honors Thesis project exploring the role of raves as a form of radical celebration and cultural resilience within Black queer communities. Through a hybrid ethnographic method that blends autoethnography, oral history, and soundscape analysis, his research examines how communal dance spaces can serve as sites of healing, identity formation, and resistance. His work integrates musicological and sociocultural analysis, and will culminate in a multimedia presentation incorporating soundscape, music production, and ethnographic writing.
Jace Bauscher (Anthropology and Environmental Science, C’25) studies the creation of place and spatial meaning through multimodal methods. He also explores spatial agency and the extent to which such agency is distributed among human and nonhuman actors. Jace is currently developing his ethnographic play Water Fountains as a Senior Capstone project.
Kristin Buhrow (PhD candidate, Anthropology) researches how stage performance helps individuals navigate experiences of race and ethnicity. Her dissertation on Chinese Dance in the American South explores how dancers with different relationships and claims to “Chineseness,” conceptualize, perform, and recreate those relationships.
Previous Lab Members
Anjali Borschel graduated in 2025 in Anthropology and Theater Studies. She produced an Honors Thesis in Theater Studies, entitled Entirely Distinct: A Verbatim Theater Exploration of Loneliness and Belonging in the Emory Student Theater Community.
Makalee Cooper graduated in 2025 in Theatre Studies and Anthropology. Makalee produced an Honors Thesis in Theater Studies, entitled Fat Matters: Toward the Development of a Pro-Fat Theater.
Anna Little graduated in 2025 in Anthropology and English & Creative Writing. She produced an Honors Thesis in Anthropology, entitled Do You Know Who I Am?: An Ethnodrama Exploring the Resilience of Identity with Memory Loss.
Jenny Xie is now at Columbia University (C’28). She worked in AY 24-25 as a Research Assistant on the between dog and wolf project with Dr. Vidali.
Cloris Wang is now at Cornell University (C’28). She worked with us in AY 24-25 as a Lab Assistant, helping with programming and publicity.