Junge, Benjamin

Benjamin Junge is Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He is a cultural anthropologist specializing in the study of gender, social movements, citi-zenship, and participatory democracy. His research interests concern the relationship be-tween gender and citizen identity within low-income, urban communities in contemporary Brazil. Much of his academic writing to date is based on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the southern city of Porto Alegre, which examines the formation of citizen identity among grassroots leaders in a city internationally known for its vibrant leftist politi-cal landscape and experiments in participatory democracy. Beyond projects in Brazil, he also carries out research on the use of digital media by anti-corporate globalization activists, especially in the context of the World Social Forum and the United States Social Forum.