Ruth Behar

Ruth Behar is a singular figure in contemporary anthropology, an ethnographer, poet, memoirist, and novelist whose work defies conventional boundaries. Known for her deeply personal and emotionally resonant writing, Behar has helped transform the field by challenging the idea that anthropologists must remain detached observers. Instead, she invites the reader into the story, blending scholarly insight with autobiographical honesty.

Born in Cuba and raised in the United States as a Jewish exile, Behar’s life has been shaped by displacement, cultural memory, and the search for belonging. These themes echo throughout her work, whether she is chronicling the life of a street vendor in rural Mexico, revisiting her ancestral roots in Havana, or writing children’s literature that reflects immigrant experience.

Behar’s impact extends far beyond academia. She has been honored with a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, has served as a cultural ambassador, and continues to inspire new generations to see anthropology not just as a science of societies but as a deeply human practice of listening, feeling, and connecting.

Early Life and Education

Ruth Behar was born in 1956 in Havana, Cuba, into a Jewish family of Sephardic and Ashkenazi descent. Her early childhood was shaped by the political and emotional upheaval of post-revolutionary Cuba. At the age of five, her family fled the country in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, settling in the United States as exiles. This experience of dislocation would become a lifelong theme in her writing and anthropological work.

Behar grew up bilingual, navigating between the Cuban Spanish of her heritage and the English of her new home. She developed an early fascination with storytelling and identity, which later crystallized in her academic and literary pursuits. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University in 1977, and went on to complete her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology at Princeton University in 1983 becoming one of the few women of Cuban-Jewish background to rise to prominence in the American academy.

Early Career and Ethnographic Beginnings

Behar’s early fieldwork took her to Spain and Mexico, where she explored the lives of women in rural communities. In Mexico, she conducted extensive interviews with Esperanza Hernández, an indigenous woman whose life story became the heart of Behar’s first major ethnographic work. Rather than remove herself from the narrative, Behar embraced her subjectivity, positioning herself as both witness and participant.

This early work marked the beginning of her challenge to anthropological norms. She resisted the distant, impersonal style that had long dominated the field, arguing instead for a form of anthropology that acknowledges emotion, vulnerability, and personal connection.

Her early publications already showed her commitment to giving voice to those often left out of academic discourse especially women, migrants, and members of diasporic communities. With a distinctive blend of empathy and intellectual rigor, Behar was laying the groundwork for a new kind of anthropology one that listens with the heart as well as the mind.

Theoretical Contributions

Ruth Behar’s most significant theoretical contribution lies in her advocacy for a vulnerable, autobiographical anthropology. At a time when many scholars still championed objectivity and detachment, Behar argued that emotion, memory, and personal history are essential tools for understanding others. She introduced the concept of the “vulnerable observer”, the anthropologist who does not hide behind academic authority but brings their full self-wounds, doubts, and all-into the ethnographic encounter.

She was also a pioneering voice in feminist anthropology, emphasizing the importance of gender, voice, and narrative in fieldwork. Her writing challenged the rigid boundaries between literature and ethnography, showing that storytelling could be both emotionally resonant and intellectually rigorous.

Behar’s work also contributed to autoethnography-a genre blending autobiography with ethnographic insight and influenced discussions on diaspora, exile, and cultural memory within the broader field of cultural anthropology.

Major Works

Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza’s Story (1993)

This landmark ethnography weaves together the life story of a poor Mexican street vendor, Esperanza, with Behar’s own reflections on identity, storytelling, and the ethics of representation. The book broke with convention by foregrounding the emotional intimacy between ethnographer and subject, and remains a foundational text in feminist and narrative anthropology.

The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart (1996)

In this collection of essays, Behar makes a powerful case for emotion in scholarly work. She argues that to truly understand others, anthropologists must be willing to reveal their own emotional investments. The book has been widely cited across disciplines and continues to shape how scholars write ethnography today.

An Island Called Home (2007) and Traveling Heavy (2013)

These memoirs reflect Behar’s return journeys to Cuba, tracing her family’s Jewish roots and reflecting on exile, memory, and belonging. Combining personal narrative with ethnographic insight, these works deepen her exploration of identity and diaspora.

Academic Career and Recognition

Ruth Behar has spent much of her academic career at the University of Michigan, where she serves as the Victor Haim Perera Collegiate Professor of Anthropology. Her presence there has helped shape one of the most dynamic anthropology programs in the country, particularly in areas of narrative, identity, and feminist ethnography.

In 1988, Behar was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as a “Genius Grant,” recognizing her groundbreaking work that bridged anthropology, literature, and memoir. This honor marked her as a public intellectual whose work extended far beyond academic audiences.

She has also been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an acknowledgment of her cross-disciplinary influence. In addition to her teaching and research, Behar has served as a mentor to countless students, particularly women and scholars of color navigating the intersections of personal identity and academic life.

Public Engagement and Literary Work

Beyond academia, Ruth Behar has become a vital cultural voice, engaging with wider audiences through literature, public speaking, and community outreach. Her literary works often draw on her own experiences of migration, exile, and bicultural identity, making her stories resonate with readers from all backgrounds.

Lucky Broken Girl (2017)

This award-winning young adult novel, based on Behar’s own experience as a Cuban-Jewish immigrant child recovering from a car accident, won the Pura Belpré Award for its portrayal of Latinx life and resilience. The book has become a favorite in classrooms for teaching empathy, disability, and immigrant perspectives.

Letters from Cuba (2020)

This middle-grade novel is based on letters exchanged between a young Jewish girl and her family in Poland, set during the buildup to World War II. Through fiction, Behar brings themes of diaspora, survival, and hope to a younger generation.

In all her public-facing work, Behar emphasizes storytelling as survival, particularly for people navigating complex identities. Her voice bridges the academy and the world beyond, showing that scholarship and emotion can-and should-coexist.

Legacy and Influence

Ruth Behar’s legacy is one of innovation, courage, and compassion. She redefined what it means to be an anthropologist by insisting that vulnerability, emotion, and personal narrative are not liabilities, but essential tools for understanding human experience. Her work helped shift anthropology away from detached observation and toward a more empathetic, engaged, and self-reflective discipline.

As a pioneer of feminist and autoethnographic methods, Behar has opened doors for scholars who write from the margins-immigrants, women, people of color, and others whose voices have often been excluded from academic narratives. Her commitment to storytelling has also brought anthropology into dialogue with literature, memoir, and youth fiction, expanding its reach and impact.

Behar’s influence can be felt in the classroom, in fieldwork practices, and in the rising generation of scholars and writers who see no conflict between the emotional and the intellectual. Her books continue to be widely read and assigned, not just for their theoretical insights, but for their honesty, lyricism, and human depth.

References

1. Ruth Behar – MacArthur Foundation (Class of 1988) https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-1988/ruth-behar
2. Ruth Behar – University of Michigan Profile https://lsa.umich.edu/idpah/people/faculty/rbehar.html
3. Review of Translated Woman – NYT/U-M PDF
   https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/ruth-behar/wp-content/uploads/sites/408/2016/07/translated-woman-review-ny-times-book-review.pdf
4. Goodreads – Translated Woman Overview
   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/505684.Translated_Woman
5. Publishers Weekly – Translated Woman Review
   https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780807070529