Heather Paxson

{{Short description|American anthropologist}}

Heather Paxson is an American cultural anthropologist and science and technology studies scholar.

She is an expert on the anthropology of reproduction, and on the anthropology of food, including in particular cheese and commonplace family food practices. She is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

{{Cite web |url=https://anthropology.mit.edu/people/faculty/heather-paxson |title=Heather Paxson |publisher=anthropology.mit.edu |accessdate=April 30, 2017}}{{Cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/paxson/www/ |title=Heather Paxson |publisher=web.mit.edu |accessdate=April 30, 2017}}

Paxson is a graduate of Haverford College, and obtained her Ph.D. from Stanford University.

She is an editor of the Oxford Companion to Cheese. Her other books include:

• Making Modern Mothers: Ethics and Family Planning in Urban Greece (University of California Press, 2004)Reviews of Making Modern Mothers:
• {{citation|author=S. G.|date=June 2004|issue=2|journal=Population and Development Review|jstor=3401402|pages=371–372|title=none|volume=30}}
• {{citation|last=Kelly|first=Ann|date=November 2006|issue=2|journal=Political and Legal Anthropology Review|jstor=24497581|pages=286–290|title=none|volume=29|doi=10.1525/pol.2006.29.2.286}}
• {{citation|last=Moutsatsos|first=Chrisy|date=February 2010|issue=1|pages=170–172|journal=American Ethnologist|jstor=40389888|title=none|volume=37|doi=10.1111/j.1548-1425.2010.01248_4.x}}
• The Life of Cheese: Crafting Food and Value in America (University of California Press, 2013)Reviews of The Life of Cheese:
• {{citation|last=Holtzman|first=Jon D.|doi=10.1186/2044-7248-2-15|issue=1|journal=Flavour|page=15|title=none|volume=2|year=2013|doi-access=free}}
• {{citation|last=Hajdik|first=Anna Thompson|date=Summer 2014|doi=10.3098/ah.2014.088.3.440|issue=3|journal=Agricultural History|pages=449–450|title=none|volume=88}}
• {{citation|last=Lyon|first=Sarah|date=November 2014|doi=10.1111/awr.12048|issue=2|journal=Anthropology of Work Review|pages=115–116|title=none|volume=35}}

She is married to fellow cultural anthropologist, STS scholar and professor, Stefan Helmreich.