Academics

Dana Howell — Cultural History & Eurasian Studies

Image of Dana Howell Dana Howell has been an integral part of international studies at Marlboro since her arrival in 1985. A cultural historian and folklorist with an area specialty in Soviet studies, Dana teaches courses on cultural development, popular narratives and beliefs, and Russian/Eurasian studies. Dana also teaches performance studies, collaborating with the theater, film and dance faculty. In instructing students, Dana prefers using primary materials, which offer them an immediate exposure to cultural perspectives. "Folklore, historical works, memoirs, literature and visual arts are all natural materials for understanding a culture," Dana says. "They confront you with different perspectives, different worlds. They are also ideal for preparing students for cross-cultural work."

Dana has authored a book entitled Development of Soviet Folkloristics, which addressed Soviet views of peasant and minority cultures. Dana’s area interests also include Central Asia and Japan. She served as project director of the Marlboro Asia Project, a program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and received an NEH grant for a summer institutes on Japanese and Central Asian cultures. Since 2000, Dana has been involved with the International Higher Education Support Program, a division of the Open Society Institute. She has acted as committee chair for the Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching for OSI, which supports programs to develop innovative scholarly teaching in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Mongolia.

B.A., Barnard College, 1970; M.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1974; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1984; Marlboro College, 1985 –