Weissman School of Arts and Sciences | Baruch College
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Kenneth J. Guest
Professor
Email: Ken.Guest@baruch.cuny.edu
Phone: 646 312-4477
Fax: 646 312-4461
Location: VC 4-258
Follow on Twitter @kenguestanthro
Ken Guest is a professor, author, and public speaker based in New York City.
Ken is Professor of Anthropology at Baruch College, CUNY where he teaches courses on globalization, cross-cultural interaction, immigration, religion and New York City.
Why Cultural Anthropology is Important?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir6P1oYj2rk
He is author of four books, including the best-selling Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age (WW Norton 2014) and the highly regarded God in Chinatown: Religion and Survival in New York’s Evolving Immigrant Community (NYU Press 2003).
His media appearances include television (CCTV, NY1, Sinovision, Telemundo) and radio segments (BBC, NPR Morning Edition, Marketplace, The Brian Lehrer Show) and his research has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, The Taipei Times and other media outlets.
Ken’s more than 20 years of ethnographic research in China and the United States traces the immigration journey of recent Chinese immigrants from Fuzhou, southeast China, who, drawn by restaurant, garment shop, and construction jobs and facilitated by a vast human smuggling network, have revitalized New York’s Chinatown. His writing explores the role of Fuzhounese religious communities in China and the United States; the religious revival sweeping coastal China; the Fuzhounese role in the rapidly expanding U.S. network of all-you-can-eat buffets and take-out restaurants; and the higher education experiences of the Fuzhounese second generation.
A native of Florida, Ken studied Chinese at Beijing University and Middlebury College. He received his B.A. from Columbia University (East Asian Languages and Cultures), an M.A. from Union Theological Seminary (Religious Studies), and the M.A., M. Phil., and Ph.D. from The City University of New York Graduate Center (Anthropology).
CV
Books
Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age
Essentials of Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age
Cultural Anthropology: Fieldwork Journal
Other Writing
All You Can Eat Buffets and Chicken With Broccoli to Go
Anthropology Now, 2009
Journal of Overseas Chinese, 2011
CUNY’s New Chinese Immigrants Navigate a Precarious Path to Upward Mobility
With Ke Liang
CUNY Forum, 2013
Sparking Student Scholarship Through Urban Ethnography
In Transformative Spaces: Designing Creative Sites for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2011
Ethnic Enclaves and Cultural Diversity
With Peter Kwong
In Cultural Diversity in the United States: A Critical Reader, 2000
Teaching Videos
What can you learn about American culture from a Happy Meal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCilhmcWSSA
Gender: Culture or Biology?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8tJLGosDFc
The Kiss Across Cultures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84SR7rOQ2cg
Media Appearances
Television
Sinovision
Pearl River Mart and Gentrification in Chinatown
April 20, 2015
http://video.sinovision.net/?id=28041 (appears 21:40-23:20)
CCTV
Chinatowns Around the World
March 15, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDPD_4nutWA
NY1 News
Tenements Turn to Condos As Chinatown Spreads to Lower East Side
June 14, 2014
Radio
British Broadcasting Company (BBC)
Changing US Chinatowns
February 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01rcrpc (begins at 48 minutes in)
WGBH Boston Public Radio
Planet Takeout: Dinner, and a Cultural Crossroad
May 24, 2012
http://www.wgbh.org/articles/Planet-Takeout-Dinner-and-a-Cultural-Crossroad-6307
Asian-American/Asian Research Institute
Immigration, Education and Opportunity Among Chinese Americans of Fuzhounese Descent
October 5, 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4DSGQIyibQ
National Public Radio Morning Edition
Chinese Restaurant Workers in US Face Hurdles
May 8, 2007
http://www.npr.orgTemplates/story/story.php?storyId=10069448
National Public Radio Marketplace
Chinatown Weddings
November 23, 2006
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/popular-wedding-day
WNYC Brian Lehrer Show
From Fuzhou to Soho
September 30, 2003
http://www.wnyc.org/story/19966-from-fuzhou-to-soho/
Huffington Post
How Racism Created American Chinatowns
November 12, 2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/11/american-chinatowns-history_n_6090692.html
City Journal
Brooklyn’s Chinese Pioneers
Spring 2014
http://www.city-journal.org/2014/24_2_chinese-immigrants.html
BBC News Magazine
The Slow Decline of American Chinatowns
February 4, 2014
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25920980
New York Times
December 30, 2013
The Death of a Family and An American Dream
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/nyregion/the-death-of-a-family-and-an-american-dream.html
The Atlantic
The Girls with the Dragon Wedding
March 8, 2013
http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/03/the-girls-with-the-dragon-weddings/273817/
New York Times
February 22, 2011
Many Immigrants’ Job Search Starts in Chinatown
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/nyregion/23chinatown.html?ref=nyregion
New York Times
December 29, 2010
At Methodist Church, Immigrant Congregations Clash
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/nyregion/29church.html?_r=1&src=twrhp
New York Times
May 26, 2006
Immigrants Hear God’s Word, in Chinese, via Conference Call
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/nyregion/21bible.html
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