Lesley Daspit

Dr. Lesley Daspit is an environmental anthropologist who joined the International Studies Program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the fall of 2014, where she teaches course on the field of international studies and environmental development in Africa. She received her BA from the University of Texas, Arlington in biological anthropology. She then went on to pursue a master’s in experimental psychology at Central Washington University where she worked with chimpanzees who communicated using ASL. Dr. Daspit received her PhD in Anthropology from Purdue University in 2011. Her research focuses on political ecology, gender, the bushmeat trade, and conservation and development practices in the Congo Basin. Additionally, Dr. Daspit has conducted campus-based garbology research at Richland College in Dallas,Texas. This research not only addressed issues of campus sustainability but was also used to train students in anthropological research methods and their application.  Currently, she is working on a paper that explores the ethical dimensions of wildlife consumption in Central Africa from colonialism to present.