• Elizabeth Crane
  • Research Interests: philanthropy, critical humanitarian studies

Elizabeth Crane is a doctoral student in Anthropology at Rutgers University. Her research interests include philanthropy, critical humanitarian studies, economic anthropology, representations of US-China relations, and intimate relationships across gender, race/ethnicity, and nationality. Her current dissertation research looks at China’s emerging charitable economy, and at the refashioning of people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds into Chinese “philanthropists.” Previous research topics include Mosuo women and “walking marriage” in Southwest China (MA thesis at Columbia University) and American-Chinese transnational/interracial marriage (senior thesis at Middlebury College). She also has professional experience in the philanthropic sector in NYC, and has written on donor-grantee relationships in feminist philanthropy.