Office: Boren Hall, 153
Email: dcmains@ou.edu
Education: Ph.D., Anthropology, Emory University
I teach courses that help students think critically about their place in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Students explore how processes associated with globalization, economic development, and capitalism play out within specific cultural contexts. Regardless of whether students are majoring in civil engineering, biochemistry, or theater, I want them to consider the cultural, economic, and political connections that bind humans together, and use this understanding to work towards creating a better and more just world.
Daniel Mains' research and writing explore the intersection between culture and economics in urban Africa and the United States. He is the author of Hope is Cut: Youth, Unemployment, and the Future in Urban Ethiopia (2012). Hope is Cut explores how young men in urban Ethiopia negotiate the gap between their desires for the future and economic realities. His second book, Under Construction: Technologies of Development in Urban Ethiopia (2019) examines the relationship between development and governance through an exploration of conflicts surrounding the construction of roads, hydroelectric dams, and other forms of infrastructure. Dr. Mains' is currently completing a book about the politics of water infrastructure and battles over urban growth in Norman, Oklahoma. Dr. Mains was a Fullbright Fellow in Hawassa, Ethiopia (2013-2014) and a Humboldt Fellow in Berlin, Germany (2017-2018).
