{{Short description|American anthropologist and academic}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Amber Wutich | image = | caption = Amber Wutich, Regents & President's Professor at Arizona State University | birth_place = Miami, Florida | workplaces = Arizona State University | alma_mater = University of Florida | thesis_title = The effects of urban water scarcity on sociability and reciprocity in Cochabamba, Bolivia | thesis_url = https://worldcat.org/en/title/496626911 | thesis_year = 2006 }}
'''Amber Wutich''' is an American anthropologist who is Regents & President's Professor and the Director of the Center for Global Health at Arizona State. Her research considers the impact of water scarcity on human wellbeing. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and named a MacArthur Fellow.
== Early life and education == Wutich was raised in Miramar, Florida.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Barnhart |first=Max |date=2023-10-04 |title=This expert on water scarcity would never call herself a 'genius.' But MacArthur would |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/10/04/1203501722/this-expert-on-water-scarcity-would-never-call-herself-a-genius-but-macarthur-wo |website=NPR}}</ref> She has said that she was inspired to work on social justice and water scarcity following Hurricane Andrew.<ref name=":0" /> She was an undergraduate anthropology student at the University of Florida, and spent a year at Shaanxi University of Technology.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} She continued at the University of Florida for her graduate research under the direction of H. Russell Bernard. Her doctoral research considered the impact of water scarcity on sociability in Cochabamba, and involved a year as a Fulbright scholar in Bolivia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wutich |first=Amber Yoder |date=2006 |title=The effects of urban water scarcity on sociability and reciprocity in Cochabamba, Bolivia |url=https://sswm.info/sites/default/files/reference_attachments/WUTICH%202006%20The%20Effects%20of%20Urban%20Water%20Scarcity.pdf |website=Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management Toolbox}}</ref> After earning her doctorate, Wutich joined Nancy Grimm at Arizona State University, where she spent one year as a postdoctoral researcher before joining the faculty.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-26 |title=ASU professor reaches 'pinnacle' of aquatic sciences with 2 awards |url=https://news.asu.edu/20230426-asu-professor-reaches-pinnacle-aquatic-sciences-2-awards |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=ASU News |language=en}}</ref>
== Research and career == Wutich's early work considered Cochabamba, where water shortages occurred because of migration from a nearby mining community. In 2000, the government tried to privatise its water resources, which drove up prices and resulted in protests.<ref name=":0" /> Inadequate planning and infrastructure resulted in a population with limited access to safe water. She developed a methodology to assess and document local water needs. She found that the people established their own social water infrastructure, with households self-organizing their own water access and interacting with water vendors. She also found that water insecurity caused considerable distress. Working with biocultural anthropologist Alexandra Brewis, she has demonstrated that scarcity is not the primary cause of distress but the meanings of water such as stigma associated with water negotiations, inequity in access and complicated sharing arrangements.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} Wutich is Director of the Action for Water Equity Consortium.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Action for Water Equity |url=https://h2oequity.org/ |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=h2oequity.org}}</ref>
Wutich co-developed an interdisciplinary, international network focused on water insecurity that has been formalized as the [http://%5Bhttps://www.aag.org/groups/water-insecurity-wise-cp/ Water InSecurity Experiences (WISE) Community of Practice]. The WISE collaboration created standardized techniques to collect and analyze data, which involved developing meaningful assessment methods across culturally distinct regions.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} She calls her research "justice oriented".<ref name=":0" /> She founded the Global Ethnohydrology Study with Alexandra Brewis,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Ethnohydrology Study {{!}} School of Human Evolution and Social Change |url=https://shesc.asu.edu/research/projects/global-ethnohydrology-study-1 |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=shesc.asu.edu |language=en}}</ref> which has collected local knowledge about water insecurity in over twenty countries.
== Awards and honors ==
* 2010 Elected Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} * 2020 Faculty Women's Association Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-13 |title=Social sciences faculty honored with Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award |url=https://news.asu.edu/20200513-asu-news-social-sciences-faculty-honored-outstanding-doctoral-mentor-award |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=ASU News |language=en}}</ref> * 2020 Carol R. Ember Book Prize<ref>{{Cite web |last=hwisercn |date=2020-12-04 |title=HWISE Members Awarded the Society for Anthropological Sciences 2020 Carol R. Ember Book Prize |url=https://hwise-rcn.org/2020/12/04/hwise-members-awarded-the-society-for-anthropological-sciences-2020-carol-r-ember-book-prize/ |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) - Research Coordination Network (RCN) |language=en-US}}</ref> * 2022 Human Biology Association Book Award<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human Biology Association - Book Award |url=https://www.humbio.org/Book-Award |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=www.humbio.org |language=en}}</ref> * 2023 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science<ref>{{Cite web |last=hwisercn |date=2023-02-01 |title=2022 Class of AAAS Fellows: Dr. Amber Wutich & Dr. Wendy Jepson |url=https://hwise-rcn.org/2023/02/01/2022-class-of-aaas-fellows-dr-amber-wutich-dr-wendy-jepson/ |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) - Research Coordination Network (RCN) |language=en-US}}</ref> * 2023 MacArthur Fellows Program<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amber Wutich |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2023/amber-wutich |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=www.macfound.org |language=en}}</ref> * 2026 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Academy of Sciences Elects Members and International Members - NAS |url=https://www.nasonline.org/news/2026-nas-election/ |access-date=2026-05-06 |website=www.nasonline.org/ |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Selected publications == *{{Cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=H. Russell |title=Analyzing qualitative data: systematic approaches |last2=Wutich |first2=Amber |last3=Ryan |first3=Gery W. |date=2017 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-1-4833-4438-6 |edition=2nd |location=Los Angeles London New Delhi Singapore Washington DC Melbourne}} *{{Cite journal |last1=Hagaman |first1=Ashley K. |last2=Wutich |first2=Amber |date=2016-06-24 |title=How Many Interviews Are Enough to Identify Metathemes in Multisited and Cross-cultural Research? Another Perspective on Guest, Bunce, and Johnson's (2006) Landmark Study |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1525822X16640447 |journal=Field Methods |language=en |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=23–41 |doi=10.1177/1525822X16640447 |issn=1525-822X|url-access=subscription }} *{{Cite journal |last1=Wutich |first1=Amber |last2=Ragsdale |first2=Kathleen |date=2008-12-01 |title=Water insecurity and emotional distress: Coping with supply, access, and seasonal variability of water in a Bolivian squatter settlement |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953608004784 |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=67 |issue=12 |pages=2116–2125 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.09.042 |pmid=18954928 |issn=0277-9536|url-access=subscription }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wutich, Amber}} Category:Living people Category:People from Miami Category:People from Miramar, Florida Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni Category:Arizona State University faculty Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:American women anthropologists Category:21st-century American women scientists Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science