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Biography
Dr. Huff grew up in Georgia (U.S.) and has enjoyed creating a home with his family and friends in many places since then, including Washington, D.C., El Salvador, southern California, and Wheaton, IL. As a cultural anthropologist he is curious about the nature of change, and specifically about how human beings adapt to and generate change. His research and teaching focus on how faith-rooted organizations and movements in Latin America mobilize people to strengthen human well-being and rural livelihoods. As a practitioner, Dr. Huff collaborates regularly with NGO leaders in Latin America to generate practical and accessible knowledge to help better understand the impact of their work. He enjoys gardening with his wife, discovering new music with his daughters, and cooking meals with friends.
Education
American University, Washington, DC
Ph.D., Philosophy in Anthropology, 2004
Southern California College, Costa Mesa, CA
B.A., Cultural Anthropology, 1995
Courses Taught
- Poverty, Justice and Transformation
- Violence and Peace in Latin America
- Field Research Methods & Intercultural Orientation
- Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
- Applied Anthropology
- Anthropological Theory & Research Methods
- Globalization & Development
- Linguistic Anthropology
- Latin America Cultures & Civilizations
Areas of Expertise
- Anthropology of international development
- Contemporary religious change in Central America
- Rural livelihoods and community-based development
- Theologies of transformation
- Ethnographic and evaluation research methods
Links
Research
Dr. Huff’s anthropological research explores the relationship between contemporary religious and political-economic change in Latin America, with a focus on how religious organizations and movements create positive change in rural communities in El Salvador.
Current Research and Practitioner Work
Dr. Huff is engaged two main research and practitioner projects at present. The first is a social scientific and missiological study of the work of Latin American-led, faith-based organizations that mobilize diverse religious and civic actors to promote human rights and justpeace, gender equity, sustainable livelihoods, and environmental justice. The second is a practitioner project in collaboration with a Salvadoran NGO to develop a curriculum and training program for church leaders engaged in community transformation work in Central America.
Selected Publications
2024 Reflecting on the 1973 Chicago Declaration: Legacies and Challenges for Christian Higher Education Today. Christian Scholar’s Review 53(2): 21-36. Co-authored with Laura S. Meitzner Yoder and Amy Reynolds.
2023 From Retreat to Social Engagement: Marginalization Among Pentecostal-Catholic Relationships in Rural El Salvador. In Christian Minorities and their Responses under Coercive Polities, David Emmanuel Singh (ed.). Fortress Press. Co-authored with Ron T. Bueno.
2023 Faith in Peacebuilding Assemblages in Colombia and Peru. International Journal of Latin American Religions https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-023-00199-5. Co-authored with Vilma Balmaceda and Loramy Gertsbauer.
2022 Conceptualizing and Practicing Transformation: Preliminary Insights from Latin American Organizational Leaders. Journal of Latin American Theology 17(2): 89-112. Co-authored with Vilma Balmaceda.
2021 Building Community Capacity During a Crisis. Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy: The Journal of the Accord Network 2 (2), 65-74. https://crdajournal.org/index.php/crda/article/view/453. Co-authored with Ron Bueno.
2020 The Best Education Happens Around the Table Four Decades of “Mennonite Dinner” in Wheaton, Illinois. Journal of Mennonite Studies 38:133-153. Co-authored with Laura Meitzner Yoder.
2020 Livelihood Intervention and Mental Well-Being Among Women Living with HIV in Delhi. AIDS Care: Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV, 1–7. Co-authored with K. Hosaka, E. Kang, S. Shaw, and S. Duomai. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2020.1837336
2020 Enhancing Evaluation Capacity: Lessons from Faith-Based Community Development in El Salvador. In Research Handbook on Community Development. London: Elgar Publishing.
2020 Wealth and Power. In “Personal Questions Every Student Asks,” D. Lauber and G. Burge, eds. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.
2019 El Salvador. In “Brill’s Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism,” M. Wilkinson, ed. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers.
2019 The Role of Local Churches in Building Community Capacity: Insights from Rural El Salvador. In “Building Community Capacity and Resilience through Rural Development: Perspectives from Latin America,” P. Lachapelle, I. Gutierrez-Montes, and C. Butler Flora, eds. New York: Routledge.
2018 Practicing Lament to Teach for Justice: Reflections from a Survey Course. Christian Higher Education: An International Journal of Research, Theory, and Practice 17(3):151-166.
2017 Of Specters and Spirit: Neoliberal Entanglements of Faith-Based Development in El Salvador. Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development. Special Issue: The Impact of State-Level and Global-Level Neoliberal Agendas on NGOs in Latin America 46(3-4). Fall/Winter 2017.