Candice M. Lowe Swift

Candice Lowe Swift is an Associate Professor of Anthropology, Africana Studies and International Studies at Vassar College. Her research interest is in diaspora networks, cultural and food heritage, and how the field of anthropology can contribute to thinking about DEIB in higher education. Working in Mauritius, she contributed directly to the inscription of Le Morne Brabant Mountain on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and co-edited “Le Morne Cultural Landscape: History, Symbolism, and Tradition” (2010). She is also co-editor of “Teaching Food and Culture” (2016). Her most recent co-edited volume, “Academic Belonging in Higher Education,” was just published by Routledge in December of 2023. She served as Liaison to the President for Race and Inclusion (2016-2017), and became Co-Principal Investigator on a Mellon Foundation Grant to develop mechanisms for addressing challenges faced by historically underrepresented students. Successful funding of that proposal allowed Vassar College to launch the Engaged Pluralism Initiative (EPI), which Candice directed from 2017-2020. Candice initiated, co-founded, and directed the Summer Immersion in the Liberal Arts; Vassar’s first summer bridge program for students from marginalized backgrounds. Candice currently sits on the boards of Omprakash Edge and the Vassar Haiti Project. She teaches courses on the Indian Ocean, Cultural Anthropology, Food, Community-Based Research Methods, and Globalization. She has recently become a student of Tai Chi.