Maura Finkelstein

Maura Finkelstein is an anthropologist thought to be the first tenured professor to lose their job for pro-Palestine speech in the United States. After completing her PhD in cultural anthropology at Stanford, she became a professor at Muhlenberg College, receiving tenure in 2021. Specializing in urban India, she wrote The Archive of Loss: Lively Ruination in Mill Land Mumbai, an ethnography of Mumbai mill workers. In 2024, Finkelstein was fired after Muhlenberg determined that she had violated their anti-discrimination policy by sharing a post by Remi Kanazi on her Instagram story that stated: "Do not cower to Zionists. Shame them. Do not welcome them in your spaces." Finkelstein's firing was criticized by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) as a violation of her academic freedom. Finkelstein participated in Texas Ranch House (2006), a PBS reality TV show about life in 1867 rural Texas.

Early life and education Born around 1980, Finkelstein was raised in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She is queer, Jewish, and an equestrian.

Career Texas Ranch House After completing her master's degree, Finkelstein participated in a PBS reality TV show called Texas Ranch House (2006). The participants spent three summer months on a remote ranch in the Chihuahuan Desert in conditions designed to mimic life in 1867. They dealt with cattle rustlers, food shortages, rudimentary tools, extreme weather, and other harsh living conditions. A common theme of the show is conflict regarding gender roles. In 2023, Finkelstein reported that she was working on a memoir about her experiences on the show.

Academic career Finkelstein obtained her master's degree in anthropology from Columbia University and her PhD in cultural anthropology from Stanford. In 2024, she became an associate editor for the American Anthropologist. Finkelstein draws on several years of her field research to describe the mill's workers in the context of deindustrialization, including the impact of their labor on their bodies, and their differing perspectives of the 1982 Great Bombay textile strike. In late October, a group of anonymous school alumni started a petition advocating for Finkelstein's dismissal due to her social media posts. For example, the petition highlighted a post in which she said that a student fundraiser for "the various war efforts in Israel" was "raising money for genocide" and called for a ceasefire. According to Finkelstein, she received anonymous threats, including rape threats. and Finkelstein was put on leave shortly thereafter.

Both the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and a panel of Muhlenberg faculty found that Muhlenberg had violated Finkelstein's academic freedom, a claim the college has disputed. "Ghosts in the Gallery: The Vitality of Anachronism in a Mumbai Chawl". Anthropological Quarterly. vol. 91 no. 3, 2018. The Archive of Loss: Lively Ruination in Mill Land Mumbai. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. "Reframing Hamas". Allegra Lab. December 2023. "Work Cannot Save Us but Let's Still Try: Labor, Utopias, and Futurity at an Equine Therapy Farm". Anthropology of Work Review. 2025. "Where language does not live". American Anthropologist'', vol. 127 no. 1, 2025.