Professor Leis studies sociocultural anthropology, social and political organization, interethnic relations, enculturation and cultural change. Regionally, his work focuses on Africa. Ongoing project topics include: West and Southern African ethnology, pluralism; associations life cycle, economic development; cross-cultural study of adolescence.

My research interests focus on: the anthropology of identity and the identity of anthropology. The former has been pursued in field research, especially in Africa (Nigeria, Cameroun, and Zimbabwe), in village and urban contexts. The latter has been largely a matter of personal participation and teaching within the context of the discipline of anthropology. In Nigeria I was concerned, and continue to be, with how ethnic identity among the Ijo developed in an isolated, relatively culturally homogeneous, self-sufficient society that became severely impinged upon by a multi-ethnic nation and global economic prerequisites of oil exports. In Cameroun the setting shifts to a plural community within a plural state, and the emphasis is on formulating and retaining an identity as a minority ethnic group. Zimbabwe offers still another variation on a theme: a state containing one dominant ethnic group, the Shona, but with numerous migrants from adjoining states. Here my interest is on how participation in voluntary associations and other non-governmental organizations contribute to the formation of a national identity. My interest in the identity of anthropology has focused on the delineation of crises in the discipline's history that reflect shifts in theoretical orientation, in addition to prompting them.

2005-04
OVPR, Brown – Department Research Funds ($2,000), for research assistance on the study of identity

1998
N.S.F. Ethnographic Research Training Award, P.I. (5 years, $50,000), for training graduate students in the use of qualitative and quantitative methods of ethnographic study

1993-94
Fulbright Senior Scholar; a study of ethnic conflict and nationalism in Zimbabwe

1988
Brown University, Summer Research Grant for preparing new course materials

1988
Brown University, Odyssey Grant for preparing new course materials

1982-83
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Grant-in-Aid for additional support of the adolescent study grant

1981-83
National Institutes of Mental Health, post-doctoral fellowship, Peabody Museum, Harvard University; study of adolescence cross-culturally, including 12 months of research on the Ijo in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

1979-80
Brown University, Faculty Incentive Grant for preparing course materials

1969-76
Program Director, N.I.M.H. Training Grant for training graduate students in the research area of interethnic relations

1969-70
N.I.M.H. Special Research Fellowship, for study and writing research data in the Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics

1965-66
National Science Foundation Fellowship, for the study of ethnic factors in a plural chiefdom in the Republic of Cameroon

1957-59
Ford Foundation Foreign Area Training Fellowship, for the study of cultural change in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

2005-04
OVPR Brown – Department Research Funds

1998
N.S.F. Ethnographic Research Training Award, P.I. (5 years)

1993-94
Fulbright Senior Scholar

1988
Brown University, Summer Research Grant

1988
Brown University, Odyssey Grant

1982-83
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Grant-in-Aid

1981-83
National Institutes of Mental Health, Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Peabody Museum, Harvard University

1979-80
Brown University, Faculty Incentive Grant

1969-76
Program Director, N.I.M.H. Training Grant

1969-70
N.I.M.H. Special Research Fellowship

1965-66
National Science Foundation Fellowship

1957-59
Ford Foundation Foreign Area Training Fellowship

Fellow, American Anthropological Association

Fellow, Royal Anthropological Institute