Annie Harper, PhD

After a career as a researcher and practitioner working internationally on issues of finance and poverty, I completed my doctoral research in cultural anthropology at Yale University, dealing with urban poverty and inequality in South Asia. Living in New Haven piqued my interested in US concerns, and after graduating with my PhD, I began work researching mental illness, poverty and finances locally.

My work currently falls into three related areas: i) research that supports creating just banking/financial services that support everyone, including low-income and racialized people generally, people who are/have been incarcerated, and people with serious mental illness, including through supported financial decision-making arrangements; ii) research that supports creating a just social welfare system that supports everyone, particularly people with mental health disabilities; iii) research that supports a just energy system, in which everyone has affordable utility services that enable them to live safely and comfortably and that have minimal negative impact on our climate.