Dr. Tom Hall, Ph.D. — Lester M. Jones Professor of Sociology, University Professor

Tom Hall

Ph.D. (University of Washington)

Lester M. Jones Professor of Sociology
University Professor
106 Asbury Hall
Phone: (765) 658-4519
E-mail: thall@depauw.edu
Home Page


Thomas D. [Tom] Hall earned a master in Anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1971.  He taught for two years at Navajo Community College in Tsaile, Arizona on the Navajo Nation.  After a variety of activities he attended the University of Washington in Seattle where he completed his Ph.D. in 1981.  His interests are long-term social change, race and ethnicity, indigenous peoples, frontiers, globalization, and world-systems analysis.

In 1996 he spent his sabbatical in Thailand and traveled extensively in Southeast Asia.  In 1997 he attended the East-West Center institute on Southeast Asian history and culture, then in 1998 spent five weeks traveling with a group from the East-West Center on a field study project.  He visited Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Angkor Wat in Campuchea (Cambodia), Indonesia, and Bali. In1999-2000 he was visiting distinguished professor at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, where he held the A. Lindsay O'Connor Chair in American Institutions.  He held the O'Connor Chair again in 2004-2005.

Tom is an active scholar with several books, the most recent is: A World-Systems Reader: new Perspectives on Gender, Urbanism, Cultures, Indigenous Peoples, and Ecology.  He has written many articles about indigenous peoples, world-system analysis, and several papers on pedagogy.  Two recent articles are: 

  • "The Futures of Indigenous Peoples:  9-11 and the Trajectory of Indigenous Survival and Resistance," in Journal of World-Systems Research 10:1 (Winter 2004): 153-197, coauthored with James V. Fenelon.

  • "Spatial Synchrony among and within World-Systems:  Insights from Theoretical Ecology," in Journal of World Systems Research 9:1 (Winter 2003):37-64, coauthored with Peter Turchin.

Both are available on line at:  http://jwsr.ucr.edu/index.php

His current teaching and research interests focus on the changing roles of indigenous peoples in the modern world, the comparative study of frontiers, and long-term (that is, thousands of years) social, economic, political, and cultural change.

Please remember that you can always find answers about email from our website at  http://www.depauw.edu/acad/socanthro/index.asp  

Spring 2007

  • Soc 237  Racial and Ethnic Relations

  • Soc 337  Ethnic Conflict

Fall 2006

Fall 2005 - Spring 2006

On leave

Fall 2004 - Spring 2005

The announcement of Tom receiving his University Professorship is at: 
http://www.depauw.edu/@depauw/may2004/ubben.asp

On leave as A. Lindsay O'Connor Chair in American Institutions at Colgate University,
Colgate Web page: http://people.colgate.edu/tdhall/

Spring  2004

 Fall  2003