Northern Illinois University
Department of Anthropology
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Christy DeLair, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist with a focus on museum anthropology, material culture studies, performance, and global indigenous studies. Her research interests include contemporary indigenous material culture, identity, social movements, and artist-museum relations with an emphasis on Native North America and Taiwan. She conducted her dissertation research with indigenous Austronesian craft workshops in Taiwan in order to investigate how communities are formed, how boundaries of inclusion are constantly negotiated, and how multiple competing perceptions and values interact to refashion indigenous and national identities. DeLair is currently developing projects connected to diverse forms of performance and the making/unmaking of public spaces in Taiwan. 

DeLair has been involved with university-based anthropology museums for over 10 years. She previously was a postdoctoral fellow with the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University and most recently was the curator for the Longyear Museum of Anthropology at Colgate University. Her museum work centers on decolonizing practices, community collaboration, and engaging with contemporary social issues. DeLair is currently a board member for the Council for Museum Anthropology (2018–2021).

Selected Publications

(not a costume) exhibition catalogue, Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (2018).

 "Unsettled Conditions: How We Talk about the Environment and Our Place in It," in Unsettled Conditions/Landmarked exhibition catalogue. Longyear Museum of Anthropology and Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (2017).

 "Representations of Indigeneity in Handicraft Ephemera" (includes French translation), Special Issue on Craft, Creative Work and Networks of Indigenous Knowledge, Cahiers métiers d'art :Craft Journal 5, no. 1 (2011): 83-110.

 Selected Exhibitions

"Shhh! Don’t Tell Anyone!" Uncovering Histories of the Longyear Museum of Anthropology. Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (May 2–Nov. 24, 2019)

(not a costume). Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (September 27–Dec. 16, 2018)

Setting the Table: Food, Place, Community. Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (Feb. 8–June 3, 2018)

Unsettled Conditions: How We Talk about the Environment and Our Place in It. Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (Sep. 19–Dec. 17, 2017)

Earth to Fire: Pottery Technologies Around the World. Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (Jan. 30–June 4, 2017)

In Dialogue: How Objects Communicate. Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (Sep. 27–Dec. 22, 2016)

Opening the Africa Collection. Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY (Apr. 26–June 5, 2016)

Crafting Origins: Creativity and Tradition in Indigenous Taiwan. Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University, Providence, RI (Oct. 2011–Nov. 2012)