AJ Faas

A.J. Faas, Ph.D. Post-Doctoral Scholar University of South Florida

AJ Faas

AJ began working with the Fire Chasers project in September, 2012 as a post-doctoral research fellow.
Prior to joining the project, AJ conducted research on social networks, informal support, institutional
strategies, and livelihoods in disaster-affected communities and disaster-induced resettlements
in Mexico and Ecuador for two NSF-funded research projects. In this capacity, AJ gained extensive
experience designing surveys and interviews, conducting fieldwork that included ethnographic
interviewing, surveys, and participant observation, and data management and analysis.

AJ completed his Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of South Florida in 2012. His dissertation
research brought him back to the Andean highlands of Ecuador, where he conducted a study of the
tensions between cooperative, mutual support practices and unequal power relations in disaster-
induced resettlement communities. AJ has presented his work at the annual meetings of the Society for
Applied Anthropology, American Anthropological Association, the Society for Anthropological Sciences,
and others. In 2011, AJ was awarded a PERISHIP Fellowship in Hazards, Risk, and Disaster from The
Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado and the Public Entity Risk Institute and a NSF
Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant for 2011-2012. AJ received a B.A. in Anthropology and a M.A.
in Practical Anthropology from Montclair State University. His current research interests are in forms of
reciprocity and cooperation in disaster-affected communities and disaster-induced resettlements and
political power and brokerage in development, especially in disaster and resettlement contexts.