George Gmelch (B.A., Stanford and Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara) is professor of anthropology at the University of San Francisco and Union College. He does research on environmental anthropology, migration, and sport cultures. He did his first long term fieldwork in Ireland among a then nomadic group known as Travellers. Since then he has done research on return migration in Ireland, Newfoundland and Barbados, studied the ecology of salmon fisherman in Alaska, the ecology and nomadism of Gypsies in England, the culture of professional baseball players in the United States, tourism workers in Barbados, and wine tourism in the Napa Valley. He us currently studying work mobility and community change in rural Newfoundland.

He is the author and editor of 15 books dealing with these research topics. His most recent book, In the Field: Life and Work of Cultural Anthropology (UC Press 2019), was the inspiration for the film “A Year in the Field.” He and Sharon Gmelch’s fieldwork among Irish Travellers was the subject a much acclaimed Irish TV documentary, Unsettled – from Tinkers to Travellers. Gmelch has also written widely for general audiences including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Psychology Today, Society, Stanford Magazine, the Chronicle of Higher
Education, and Natural History.