Jessica Madison Pískatá

(she/her, they/them)

  • Visiting Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies and Anthropology

Areas of Study

Education

  • PhD, cultural anthropology, University of California at Santa Cruz
  • MFA, poetry, The New School
  • BA, creative writing, University of Southern California

Biography

Jessica Madison Pískatá is a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the relationships between humans and geological landscapes on the peripheries of Cold War empires. Her previous work looks at the intersection of poetic practice and geological sociality on the Dariganga Volcanic Field in eastern Mongolia. Currently, she is conducting research on radon health spas operating on former uranium mining sites in the Czech Republic.

Pískatá earned a BA in creative writing at the University of Southern California, an MFA in poetry at the New School, and a PhD in cultural anthropology at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She has also published Mongolian to English translations of Dariganga Mongolian poet O. Dashbalbar’s Grass Trilogy and is a Contributing Editor for the Society of Cultural Anthropology.

Fall 2025

The Uncanny in Cross-Cultural Perspective — FYSP 177

Introduction to Environmental Humanities — EVSS 201

Practicum in Anthropology - Full — ANTH 391F

Practicum in Anthropology - Half — ANTH 391H

Internships in Teaching - Full — ANTH 415F

Internships in Teaching - Half — ANTH 415H

Altered States: Decolonizing Rationality= — ANTH 421

Spring 2026

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology — ANTH 101

Environmental Anthropology — ANTH 231

Practicum in Anthropology - Full — ANTH 391F

Practicum in Anthropology - Half — ANTH 391H

Internships in Teaching - Full — ANTH 415F

Internships in Teaching - Half — ANTH 415H

Notes

Jessica Madison Pískatá Article Published in "Environmental Humanities"

Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Anthropology Jessica Madison Pískatá authored the article "Radium Palace: Radiation and the Uncanny in the Bohemian Mountains, which was published in the July 2025 issue of Environmental Humanities.

Jessica Madison Pískatá Article Published in "Environmental Humanities"

Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Anthropology Jessica Madison Pískatá published an article in the July 2025 issue of Environmental Humanities titled "Radium Palace: Radiation and the Uncanny in the Bohemian Mountains."

Jessica Madison Pískatá Essay Published in "Intersections"

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jessica Madison Pískatá published an essay entitled "Provincializing Energy in the Mongolian Gobi" in the Social Science Research Council's Intersections series on Religion and Energy.

Jessica Madison Pískatá Interviewed on University of Toronto’s Podcast

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jessica Madison Pískatá was interviewed for an episode of the University of Toronto’s Buddhist Studies Footnotes podcast on the intersection of poetry, geology, Buddhism, and more-than-human sociality in Mongolia.

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