Susan Blum
Anthropology
Professor of Anthropology
- Cultural, linguistic, and psychological anthropology
- Deception and truth
- Multilingualism
- Person and self
- Ethnicity, nationalism and identity
- Childhood and higher education
- Morality
- Well-being
- Justice
- Sustainability and food
- Anthropological theory
- China and Asia, the U.S.
- Cross-cultural comparison
Blum in the News
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Ungrading Light: 4 Simple Ways to Ease the Spotlight Off Points
August 02, 2022
A recent collection on the subject, edited by Susan D. Blum, a professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, features lively essays by teachers who’ve all put their particular stamp on the practice of de-emphasizing or abolishing grades.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Unintended Consequences of ‘Ungrading’
April 29, 2022
Since the 2020 release of Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), the book’s editor, Susan D. Blum, a professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, has given a steady stream of presentations about ungrading, most of them over Zoom.
Times Higher Education
So, you want to take the grades out of teaching? A beginner’s guide to ungrading
December 02, 2021
Susan D. Blum is a professor of anthropology and a fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
BBC News
Can better tech make video meetings less excruciating?
July 26, 2021
But as Susan D Blum's linguistic anthropology class found out, it makes having a natural conversation practically impossible.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Controversial but Useful Practice of ‘Ungrading’ in Teaching Writing
April 26, 2021
“I like to phrase it as ‘the central work of faculty is facilitating learning,’” says Susan D. Blum, a professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and editor of Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead).
The Wall Street Journal
The Resurrection of the Office Phone Call
November 27, 2020
Susan Blum, a professor who specializes in linguistic anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, says Zoom fatigue was inevitable given how unnatural conversational patterns can get there: “Video calls do not allow any conversational overlap. You can’t say ‘mmm-hmm’ to assent because that would interrupt and put you on screen as the main speaker.”