Dr. Fileve Tlaloc Palmer

Degrees and Credentials

Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology, Indiana University Bloomington, 2015
M.A. Social Studies Education, Indiana University Bloomington, 2009
M.A. Anthropology, Lehman College, 2003
B.A. -  City College of New York, 1999

Short Bio

Dr. Fileve Tlaloc Palmer is a first-generation, dual citizen of South Africa and the USA. She was born and raised in NYC. Dr. Palmer holds a doctorate in anthropology and has a broad understanding and openness to human potential. She moved to Appalachia in 2018 from Bloomington, Indiana, and served as a VISTA member with Cornell Cooperative Extension and Alfred State College. Dr. Palmer is an artist and adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford campus. Dr. Palmer takes an interdisciplinary approach to her work, whether it is community development projects, creative endeavors or scholarship. She seeks interconnections that blend seamlessly into regular, disciplined practice leading to successful projects. Her goal is to broaden and cultivate people’s understandings of human experience and our relationships with each other, the natural world, and the cultural world. Dr. Palmer’s work is at the crossroads between community engagement, social science, creativity, and social justice. It is a call to action; to see the potential, make the connections, and turn dreams into reality so that everyone in our northern Appalachian Region thrive rather than just survive! 

Academic Focus

Chinese Language and Cultural Studies, Fine Arts  (Ceramics and Painting specialty), Identity Politics, Race Relations, African Studies

Research, Accomplishments, and Publications

Fellowships and Awards

2025 APPALACHIAN LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE - Leadership training
2025 SFLX ARTIST FELLOWSHIP - Unrestricted artist grant
2023 NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL OF THE ARTS SUPPORT FOR ARTISTS - for “Places, Pits, and Pots”
2022 PROGRAM OF THE YEAR Tri County Arts Council Community Arts Grant for Seneca Iroquois National Museum Artist-in-Residency Program 
2022 NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL OF THE ARTS SUPPORT REGRANT for “Coloured Pots: izinkhamba kwamaKaladi”
2021 TRICOUNTY ARTS DECENTRALIZATION GRANT for Humphrey Hills: Ethnographic Mural
2011 FULBRIGHT-HAYS DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP
2010 ROTARY AMBASSADORIAL SCHOLARSHIP District 6580 to 9270 Photo-Ethnography-Project
2008/09 FOREIGN AREA LANGUAGE STUDIES FELLOWSHIP – isiZulu Language focus
2007 FULBRIGHT GROUP PROJECT AREA FELLOWSHIP – isiZulu Language Summer Intensive

Select Professional Experience

05/2023 – 11/2024 “SKY WOMAN WOMEN” - COLLABORATOR led by DARA FRIEDMAN: 2024 Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grant (NYFA)
2022 - 2023 SENECA IROQUOIS NATIONAL MUSEUM – Guest curator Carson Waterman: A Retrospective
2021 - 2023 ARTIST IN RESIDENCY PROGRAM MANAGER SENECA IROQUOIS NATIONAL MUSEUM - Pathways to Success 
2018 - 2021 VIDEOGRAPHER Co-CURATOR BUFFALO MARITIME CENTER “The Haudenosaunee and the Erie Canal”
2016 – 2018 VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, Anthropology Department, Purdue University