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Department of Anthropology
Grace Ford Salvatori Hall, Room 120
University Park Campus
3601 Watt Way
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Phone: (213) 740-1911
E-mail: walterlw@usc.edu
Personal Web Site: http://www.usc.edu/gayreview
Research
Walter Williams' research in the 1980s and 1990s has focused on homosexual subcultures and gender variance in the United States (especially among Native Americans and Asian Americans), and in Asia-Pacific nations (especially Indonesia, Polynesia, Thailand, and China). Emphasis has been given to applied research that helps to reduce anti-gay prejudice and to medical anthropology research that provides multi-cultural strategies to assist in the reduction of sexually transmitted disease infections.
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Bio
A native of Atlanta, Williams began his professional career in museum development, then moved into academia by earning his Ph.D. in history and anthropology from the University of North Carolina. He was hired at the University of Cincinnati, where in 1979 he founded and edited southern Ohio's first Gay newspaper. A year later he was elected executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Gay Coalition. He also co-founded and chaired the Committee on Lesbian and Gay History for the American Historical Association, and was an officer of the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists.
In 1981 he moved to Los Angeles, teaching American Indian Studies at UCLA and later at USC. In the late 1970s he began doing research on homosexuality in Native American cultures, using the resources at ONE Institute and at the International Gay and Lesbian Archives. After being invited to join the board of directors of the Archives, he later served as its president. In 1986 he published his fourth book, The Spirit and the Flesh. This book won the Gay Book of the Year Award from the American Library Association, the Ruth Benedict Award from the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists, and the Award for Outstanding Scholarship from the World Congress for Sexology.
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Education
Walter Williams received his B.A. in History and Anthropology at Georgia State University in 1970.
Then he went on to receive his Ph.D. in History from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1974. He wrote his dissertation on "Black American Attitudes Toward Africa" as a case study in inter-ethnic relations. His revised dissertation was published as a book in the African Studies Series of the University of Wisconsin Press. In 1978 Williams received a Rockefeller Award to do postdoctoral research at the Newberry Library Center for Family and Community Studies, in Chicago. While there he did research on Southeastern Indian ethnohistory and the history of American Indian legal status.
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Recent Publications
1997 Overcoming Heterosexism and Homophobia: Strategies That Work
(Columbia University Press).
1991 Javanese Lives: Women and Men in Modern Indonesian Society.
(Rutgers University Press).
1986 The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture (Beacon Press).
1979 Southeastern Indians Since the Removal Era (University of Georgia Press).
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Courses Taught
ANTH 315g North American Indians
ANTH 316 North American Indians in American Public Life
SWMS 210g Social Issues in Gender
SWMS 384 Overcoming Prejudice
SWMS 410 Gender Studies Senior Seminar
SWMS 588 Seminar in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
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Awards and Honors
1999 Annual Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education,
Presented at the American Booksellers Annual Convention,
by the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
1996 Commendation Certificate, for work as President of the ONE Institute International Gay and Lesbian Archives, and as a leader in developing Gay and Lesbian Studies, by Los Angeles City Council.
1995 Big Splash Award, for leadership in affiliating the ONE Institute International Gay and Lesbian Archives to USC. Presented by the
USC Program for the Study of Women and Men in Society.
1993 PROACT Award for Courage and Conviction in Areas of Diversity.
Presented for academic and community service contributions
toward the understanding and eradication of prejudice.
1987 Award for the Best Book of the Year on a Gay-Lesbian topic.
Presented by the American Library Association.
1987 Award for Most Outstanding Scholarly Book published in 1985 and
1986 on Sexological Research. Presented by the Ninth World
Congress for Sexology, meeting in Heidelberg, Germany.
1986 Ruth Benedict Prize for Excellence in Research. Presented at the
American Anthropological Association annual meetings, by the
Anthropology Research Group on Homosexuality.
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Professional Memberships
National Organization for Men Against Sexism
(Men's Studies Task Group, Homophobia Task Group)
American Men's Studies Association
Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists
Committee on Lesbian and Gay History
Sociologists Gay and Lesbian Caucus
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute
Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies
American Anthropological Association
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