John Traphagan in 2014

John Willis Traphagan is Professor of Human Dimensions of Organizations, Religious Studies, and Anthropology and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. Traphagan's research has largely focused on rural *an, with most of his research conducted in Iwate Prefecture. He has published extensively on science and culture, aging, health, and life in rural *an. In the late 2000s, he developed a second stream of research focused on the culture and ethics of space exploration. In 2010 he was elected Secretary General of the *an Anthropology Workshop, the world's largest organization of anthropologists working on *an, serving until 2014. Traphagan also serves on the Advisory Council of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) International and the Advisory Board of the College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of M*achusetts Lowell.

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Career
• 3 Other activities
• 4 Selected bibliography
  • 4.1 Books
• 5 References

Early life and education

Traphagan was born on December 27, 1961 in Boston, M*achusetts and grew up in the Boston area, attending public schools in Framingham and Chelmsford, where he graduated from Chelmsford High School. His father, Willis Traphagan, is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of M*achusetts Lowell and his mother, Jeanne Elizabeth Long Traphagan (d. 2004), was a professional French Horn player and businesswoman.

Traphagan received his Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of M*achusetts Lowell in 1983, his Masters of Arts in Religion and Social Ethics from Yale University in 1986, and his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997.

Career

Traphagan was an instructor at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Anthropology (1996); National Ins*ute on Aging Postdoctoral Fellow University of Michigan(1997-1999); a research affiliate in the University of Michigan Population Studies Center (1999–2001); and an *istant professor of anthropology at California State University, Fullerton (1999–2001).

Traphagan has been a visiting research fellow at the University of Tokyo Ins*ute of Oriental.Studies in 1995–1996; a visiting researching at Iwate University, Morioka, *an, in 1998; and holds a position as visiting professor at Waseda University in Tokyo. In 1995–1996 he was a Fulbright Scholar to *an.

From 2004 to 2007 he was Director of that Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Texas Austin. He has published over fifty scientific papers in journals such as Ethnology, Research on Aging, the International Journal of Astrobiology, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, Alzheimer Disease and *ociated Disorder, Acta Astronautica, and the Journal of Anthropological Research.

Other activities

Traphagan is a frequent presenter at national and international symposia on the subjects of *anese culture, science and society, and aging and health care. He organized the 2000 Cultural Construction of Dementia Conference in Fullerton, California, the 2005 *ociation for Anthropology and Gerontology Annual Conference in Austin, Texas, and the 2010 *an Anthropology Workshop 20th Conference in Austin, Texas. He was a co-organizer of the 2004 *anese Families in a Global Age: Conflict and Change Conference in Pittsburgh.

In 2010 Traphagan was named Secretary General of the *an Anthropology Workshop.

He is past president of the *ociation for Anthropology and Gerontology and past editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology.

He has written many opinion pieces for publications such as The Diplomat, The Huffington Post, The Austin American Statesman, and Centauri Dreams. Traphagan is currently a host of the Science, Technology, and Society podcast channel on the New Books Network and drummer with the Botolph Jazz Trio.

Selected bibliography

Books

• Science, Culture, and the Search for Life on Other Worlds. Springer. 2016. ISBN:978-3-319-41745-5.
• Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Human Imagination: SETI at the Intersection of Science, Religion, and Culture. Springer. ISBN:978-3-319-10551-2.
• Rethinking Autonomy: A Critique of Principlism in Biomedical Ethics. Albany: State University of New York Press. 2013. ISBN:978-1438445526.
• Toward Sustainable Cities: Readings in the anthropology of urban environments. Leiden: Ins*ute of Cultural and Social Studies, University of Leiden. 1998. ISBN:90-6624-101-2. (with P. Nas)
• Taming Oblivion: Aging bodies and the fear of senility in *an. Albany: State University of New York Press. 2000. ISBN:0-7914-4499-6.
• Demographic Change and the Family in *an's Aging Society. Albany: State University of New York Press. 2003. ISBN:0-7914-5649-8. (with John Knight)
• The Practice of Concern: Ritual, well-being, and aging in rural *an. Durham: Carolina Academic Press. 2004. ISBN:0-89089-406-X.
• Wearing Cultural Styles in *an: Concepts of tradition and modernity in practice. Albany: State University of New York Press. 2006. ISBN:0-7914-6697-3. (with Christopher S. Thompson)
• Imagined Families, Lived Families: Culture and kinship in contemporary *an. Albany: State University of New York Press. 2008. ISBN:978-0-7914-7577-5. (with Akiko Hashimoto)
• Cosmopolitan Rurality, Depopulation, and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in 21st Century *an. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press. 2020. ISBN:9781621965022.

References