Born in 1936, Judith Hanna made numerous contributions to the arts, humanities and social sciences through her numerous and multidisciplinary pursuits. Due to her broad academic interests, she combined the fields of African studies, art anthropology, black studies, dance, drama, education, gender, leisure and recreation, medicine, music, planning, political science, psychology, religion, semiotics, therapy, and urban studies in her body of work. She is chiefly an academic, as well as a prolific author of books, both academic and trade, scholarly papers, columns, reviews and articles.
Hanna earned her doctorate in anthropology from Columbia University in 1976, which was preceded by two separate masters degrees respectively in anthropology from Columbia University in 1975 and political science from Michigan State in 1962. She holds a teaching credential from the state of California where she also completed her bachelors degree in political science at UCLA.
Aside from writing and researching, Judith Hanna has also served as an expert court witness, consultant, ethnographer, dance critic, committee chair, advisor, and academic fellow.
From the guide to the Judith Lynne Hanna Collection, 1893-2012, 1965-1989, (Special Collections in Performing Arts)
