Crystal Fortwangler

Dr. Fortwangler has a joint-Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and natural resources/environmental studies, and owns a film company focused on exploring sustainability in conversation with human and animal welfare.  Her research and films explore how we can simultaneously best pursue conservation and marine protection, social and economic justice, and animal welfare. She currently teaches at Chatham University and has taught courses at the university level in the visual communication of sustainability, film and sustainability, visual research methods, and digital storytelling. She also has extensive research experience based in the US Virgin Islands, in particular the island of St. John, where she has conducted over a decade’s worth of ethnographic and archival-based fieldwork. Dr. Fortwangler shares her appreciation for how one can merge filmmaking with one’s beliefs and values.