Joanna Overing

Overing completed her B.A. at Duke University and the University of Connecticut in History, followed by her M.A. in History from the University of Connecticut. She completed her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Brandeis University.[1] She is Professor Emeritus at the University of St Andrews in the Department of Social Anthropology,[1] and a Researcher within the Centre for Amerindian, Latin American and Caribbean Studies.[2] She has previously held posts as Professor and Chair in Social Anthropology at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews and Director of Centre of Indigenous American Studies and Exchange (CIASE), as well as teaching positions at Vanderbilt University and the London School of Economics.

One of Overing's central interests in Amazonianist anthropology is the relationship between egalitarianism and individualism in Amerindian societies. Anthropologist Harry Walker has written that Overing 'pioneered the study of what she termed the “art of living” or the “aesthetics of everyday life,” showing how the Western distinction between ethics and aesthetics is irrelevant in a world where people strive for beauty in their social relations with others.'[3]