Michael Burton

Professor of Anthropology (PhD: Stanford, 1968)
Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway (SBSG) 3554
(949) 824-7602
email: mlburton at uci dot edu

Professor Burton's research interests are in the fields of economic and social anthropology, with emphasis on household and family. He has a strong interest in improving comparative and field research methods. His past research topics have included causes and consequences of the sexual division of labor, Maasai concepts of gender and social identity, and Navajo attitudes toward social change. He has done reserach in Yucatan, Kenya (Gikuyu and Maasai), and among the Navajo, he is currently working on a comparative study of macroeconomic change, migration, and the household food economy in Palau, Yap, Kosrae, and the Marshall Islands.

Selected Publications

"Who can belong to a Micronesian Household: Representations of household compositions across social contexts." (With K.L. Nero and J. Hess.) Field Methods 14 (February 2002): 65-87.

"Creating Options: Forming a Marshallese Community in Orange County."
(With J. Hess and K.L. Nero.) The Contemporary Pacific 13.1 (Spring 2001): 89-121.

"The Circulation of Children through Households in Yap and Kosrae."
(With K.L. Nero and J.A. Egan.) Ethos 29.3 (September 2001): 329-356.

"The Meanings of Work in Contemporary Palau: Implications of Globaization in the Pacific."
(With K.L. Nero and F.B. Murray.) The Contemporary Pacific 12.2 (Fall 2000): 319-348.

"Population Migration and the Variation of Dopamine D4 Receptor (DRD4) Allele Frequencies around the Globe."
(With C. Chen, E. Greenberger, and J. Dmitrieva.) Evolution and Human Behaviour 20 (September 1999):309-324.

"Regions Based on Social Structure."
(With C.C. Moor, W.M. Whiting, and A.K. Romney.) Current Anthropology 37.1 (1996): 87-123.