Associate Professor
Dr. Jennifer Sweeney Tookes is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Georgia Southern University. She is an applied anthropologist conducting field research in the US South and the Caribbean since 2003. Her dissertation research on the Caribbean island of Barbados and with migrant Barbadians in Atlanta, GA examined food, health, and the body in the diaspora. Sweeney Tookes's post-doctoral research fellowship at Emory University asked: “How can Georgia seafood producers use the burgeoning local food movement to increase their participation in the inland market; and make sustainable, local seafood available to a larger segment of the Georgia population?” and included an extensive applied outreach focus with local foods and Georgia fishing communities. Her current research projects focus on collaboration with fishermen in Georgia and in the US Virgin Islands to investigate new opportunities to support commercial fishing communities. Current projects include: expansion of local markets for Georgia oysters (USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education project with UGA and Emory), an oral history project with Georgia fishermen (Georgia Department of Natural Resources collaboration with Georgia Sea Grant), a pilot study examining health and well-being among fishing crew in the Savannah River Basin (Marine Fisheries Institute project with Emory University) and a social census of Georgia's working waterfronts (Georgia Sea Grant funded collaboration with Emory and UGA Marine Extension). Sweeney Tookes is a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC)'s SocioEconomic Panel and active in the Society for Applied Anthropology.
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About Jennifer Sweeney Tookes
Dr. Jennifer Sweeney Tookes is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Georgia Southern University. She is an applied anthropologist conducting field research in the US South and the Caribbean since 2003. Her dissertation research on the Caribbean island of Barbados and with migrant Barbadians in Atlanta, GA examined food, health, and the body in the diaspora. Sweeney Tookes's post-doctoral research fellowship at Emory University asked: “How can Georgia seafood producers use the burgeoning local food movement to increase their participation in the inland market; and make sustainable, local seafood available to a larger segment of the Georgia population?” and included an extensive applied outreach focus with local foods and Georgia fishing communities. Her current research projects focus on collaboration with fishermen in Georgia and in the US Virgin Islands to investigate new opportunities to support commercial fishing communities. Current projects include: expansion of local markets for Georgia oysters (USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education project with UGA and Emory), an oral history project with Georgia fishermen (Georgia Department of Natural Resources collaboration with Georgia Sea Grant), a pilot study examining health and well-being among fishing crew in the Savannah River Basin (Marine Fisheries Institute project with Emory University) and a social census of Georgia's working waterfronts (Georgia Sea Grant funded collaboration with Emory and UGA Marine Extension). Sweeney Tookes is a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC)'s SocioEconomic Panel and active in the Society for Applied Anthropology.
| Present | Faculty Member, Georgia Southern University ‐ Department of Sociology and Anthropology | |
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Disciplines
Grants
| 2024 - 2026 | Georgia Department of Natural Resources |
| University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant | |
| Role: PI | |
| Colleague(s): Bryan Fluech (Co-PI) | |
| $254,758 | |
| 2023 - 2025 | Ethnographic Overview Assessment of Andersonville National Historic Site |
| National Park Service | |
| Role: Co-PI | |
| Colleague(s): Heidi Altman (PI) and Ryan McNutt (Co-PI) | |
| $189,993 | |
| 2020 - 2021 | Georgia Department of Natural Resources Coastal Improvement Grant |
| University of Georgia Marine Extension/Georgia Sea Grant | |
| Role: PI | |
| Colleague(s): Bryan Fluech (Co-PI) | |
| $107,386 | |
| 2018 - 2021 | UGA Marine Extension/ Georgia Sea Grant Research Grant |
| University of Georgia | |
| Role: PI | |
| Colleague(s): Tracy Yandle, Gina Shamshak, and Bryan Fluech (Co-PIs) | |
| $115,644 | |
| 2017 - 2021 | Southern SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) Grant |
| Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) | |
| Role: Co-PI | |
| Colleague(s): Thomas Bliss (PI), Tracy Yandle (Co-PI), Mark Risse (Co-PI), Tori Stivers (Co-PI), Bryan Fluech (Co-PI), Kent Wolfe (Co-PI), and Tommy Shepherd (Co-PI) | |
| $268,000 | |
| 2018 - 2019 | Georgia Southern University Sustainability Grant |
| Georgia Southern University | |
| Role: Co-PI | |
| Colleague(s): Christine Bedore (PI) and Bryan Fluech (Co-PI) | |
| $39,808 | |
| 2017 - 2019 | Georgia Department of Natural Resources Coastal Improvement Grant |
| Georgia Department of Natural Resources | |
| Role: PI | |
| Colleague(s): Bryan Fluech (Co-PI) | |
| $144,603 | |
| 2017 - 2019 | National Marine Fisheries Service’s Marine Fisheries Initiative (MARFIN) |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) | |
| Role: Co-PI | |
| Colleague(s): Tracy Yandle (PI) and Gina Shamshak (Co-PI) | |
| $108,788 | |
| 2015 - 2018 | Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) | |
| Role: Co-PI | |
| Colleague(s): Tracy Yandle (PI) and Sherry Larkin (Co-PI) | |
| $314,437 | |
| 2016 - 2017 | CLASS Faculty Research and Creativity Seed Grant Initiative |
| Georgia Southern University | |
| Role: PI | |
| $3,937 | |
| 2014 - 2016 | Georgia Sea Grant Research Grant |
| University of Georgia | |
| Role: Doctoral Research Fellow | |
| Colleague(s): Tracy Yandle (PI) and Peggy Barlett (Co-PI) | |
| $118,671 | |
| 2015 | Classroom Grant |
| Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, Emory University | |
| 2014 | Classroom Grant |
| Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, Emory University | |
| 2011 - 2013 | Graduate Fellowship for the Center for Community Partnerships |
| Environmental Studies Internship Coordinator and Instructor, Emory University | |
| 2009 - 2010 | Dissertation Research Grant |
| The Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research | |
| Role: PI | |
| $13,695 | |
| 2009 - 2010 | National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow |
| Graduate Research Fellowship Program | |
| 2006 | Foreign Language Area Studies Grant (FLAS) |
| U.S Department of Education, International and Foreign Language Education | |
| $3,150 | |
| 2003 | Office of Research and Sponsored Projects Research Grant |
| California State University, Northridge |
Professional Service and Affiliations
| 2023 - Present | Chair, SocioEconomic Panel, South Atlantic Fishery Management Council | 2020 - Present | Member, UGA Marine Extension & Georgia Sea Grant Fisheries Extension Advisory Committee | 2020 - Present | Section Program Chair, “Raising Our Voices”; Culture & Agriculture section of the American Anthropological Association | 2019 - Present | Member, Culture & Agriculture section of the American Anthropological Association | 2018 - Present | Alternate, College Curriculum Committee, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, GSU | 2017 - Present | Internship Coordinator, Anthropology Program, GSU | 2017 - Present | Peer Reviewer, Appetite, Ecology & Society, Marine Resource Economics | 2017 - Present | Peer Reviewer, CAFE (Culture, Agriculture, Food & Environment) | 2017 - Present | Member, College Curriculum Committee, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, GSU | 2017 - Present | Peer Reviewer, Puerto Rico Sea Grant | 2016 - Present | Faculty Advisor, Lambda Alpha Society, Anthropology Program, GSU | 2016 - Present | Advisory Council, Master of Arts in Social Sciences Program, GSU | 2023 | Invited Reviewer, Research Proposal Technical Review Panel, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium | 2021 - 2023 | Vice-Chair, SocioEconomic Panel, South Atlantic Fishery Management Council | 2021 | Steering Committee Member, Georgia Sea Grant Coastal Research Symposium | 2011 - 2013 | Internship Coordinator, Environmental Studies, Emory University | 2010 | Undergraduate Research Symposium Judge, SIRE (Scholarly Inquiry and Research at Emory), Emory University | 2007 | Committee Participant, Transforming Community Project Dialogue on Race, Emory University | 2007 | Graduate Certificate Student Representative, Women’s Studies Departmental Committee, Emory University | 2005 | Research/Editorial Assistant, The Other 50%, Judith Marti and Mari Womack, eds. California State University, Northridge |
Honors and Awards
- Recipient, President's Associates Outstanding Graduate Student Award, California State University (2005)
- Recipient, Graduate Student Council Travel Award, Emory University (2006)
- Recipient, Institute for Comparative International Studies Graduate Fellowship Award, Emory University (2007)
- Fellowship, National Science Foundation Graduate, Emory Center for Science Education (2009-2010)
- Distinction in Research Award, Georgia Southern University (2021)
Courses
- Environmental Anthropology (ANTH 3091)
- Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 2331)
- Biological Anthropology (ANTH 2131)
- Anthropology of Foodways (ANTH 3091A)
- Caribbean Cultures (ANTH 3335)
- Medical Anthropology (ANTH 4336)
- Anthropology of the Body (ANTH 3091)
- Graduate Seminar: Qualitative Methods (ANTH 7436)
- Graduate Seminar: Medical Anthropology (ANTH 7631)
- Enthnographic Methods (ANTH 4334)
| 2013 | Ph.D. in Anthropology, Emory University | |
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| 2009 | M.A. in Anthropology, Emory University | |
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| 2005 | M.A. in Cultural Anthropology, California State University | |
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| 1999 | B.A. in Liberal Studies, California State University | |
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Contact Information
P.O. Box 8051
Statesboro, GA 30460
Phone: (912) 478-6587
Office: Carroll 1018
www.workingwaterfronts.org
Email:
