Aziza Bayou

Aziza Bayou
Graduate Lecturer
Anthropology: Economic anthropology, culture and political economy, labor unions, identities and inequalities, gendered division of labor, ethnographic methods, anthropology of work, anthropology of religion, New Orleans and Caribbean region.
Current Research
My dissertation research utilizes ethnographic methods and a critical political economic methodological approach to analyze and historicize the context and work of the Fairfax Workers Coalition, a grassroots labor union of Fairfax County government workers.
Selected Publications
Forthcoming Anthropology Textbook: Connections: Developing an Anthropological Perspective. (SAGE)
Grants and Fellowships
Fellow in the 2024 Institute for Critical Social Inquiry (ICSI) Summer Seminar with David Harvey
2024-2025 and 2025-2026 Mercatus Center Graduate Scholar
Courses Taught
ANTH 114: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (online and face-to-face sections)
ANTH 313: Myth, Magic, Mind
ANTH 330: Peoples and Cultures of the Caribbean
ANTH 331: Refugees in the Contemporary World
ANTH 490: Theory, Methods, and Issues II
CULT 325: Globalization and Culture (Spring 2026)
Education
Current PhD student in Cultural Studies
M.A. in Anthropology from Colorado State University
B.A. in Anthropology from George Mason University (summa cum laude)
Recent Presentations
American Anthropological Association (AAA) Annual Meeting Presentation: "Class Conflicts and Dignity in Labor: A Public Sector Union's Struggle to Represent Government Employees" (Fall 2025)
Markets and Society Conference Presentation: The Structural Marginalization of Feminized Caregiving Labor in the Contemporary U.S. (Fall 2025)