Clarence Gravlee

Background

About Clarence Gravlee

I am an applied social scientist with a PhD in anthropology and postdoctoral training in public health. My primary research seeks to explain and address the health consequences of systemic racism. I adopt a collaborative, participatory, and action-oriented approach that centers the perspectives, experiences, and strengths of people who are most in harm’s way. My research has appeared in a wide range of outlets (for scientists and public audiences) and has supported both community-based initiatives and policy advocacy. My work is grounded in expertise as a methodologist. I co-edited (with H. Russell Bernard) the Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology (Second Edition); co-directed (with Sarah Szurek) a federally-funded training program on ethnographic research methods and community-based participatory research (2012–2017); and have published widely on qualitative, qualitative, and mixed methods of data collection and analysis. I have experience doing ethnography, open-ended interviews, focus groups, cultural domain analysis, survey research, social network analysis, direct observation, environmental audits, statistical analysis, content analysis, GIS, data visualization, and more. My key strength is selecting and combining the right set of tools to answer the questions at hand—the cornerstone of good research design.In addition to my research and teaching, I offer professional training and consulting on qualitative and mixed-methods research through Q2 Insight, LLC.I also work part-time as a commercial pilot ferrying blood to hospitals around the southeastern U.S. This work combines my lifelong love of flight (I grew up in an aviation town where we could see Space Shuttle launches from the schoolyard) with my commitment to serve others. I'm also beginning to combine my skills as a pilot and social scientist—turning an anthropologist's gaze to the experience of flight and the profound ways that aerial technologies have transformed society.