Henri Dengah

Cultural Anthropology

Associate Professor


Francois Dengah

Contact Information

Office Location: Logan (MAIN 245G)
Phone: +1 435 797 9056
Email: francois.dengah@usu.edu

Educational Background

PhD, Biocultural Medical Anthropology, University of Alabama, 2013
Finding Success and Health through God—A Study of Cultural Models and Health among Brazilian Pentecostals
MA, Cultural Anthropology, Colorado State University, 2008
Mormon Mental Health: Psychological Well-being as a Function of Gender and Religiosity
BA, Anthropology, Colorado State University, 2004
Biological and Cultural Factors of HIV Transmission in South Africa

Biography

My interests lie in the relationship between culture and health. I research Brazilian Pentecostals, computer gamers, and Mormon college students to examine how adherence to cultural norms shapes well-being.

Research Interests

Medical anthropology, cognitive anthropology, virtual ethnography, urban anthropology, epidemiology, religious movements, mental health, dissociation, stress, gender roles, mixed methodology, social statistics, technology, Brazil

Awards

Finalist, Dean’s “Giraffe Award”, 2017

CHaSS

Finalist, Peak Prize for Undergraduate Mentoring, 2017

Utah State University

Finalist, Robins Award: Undergraduate Research Mentor, 2017

Utah State University

Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor, 2017

CHaSS

Finalist, USU Honors Outstanding Professor, Last Lecture Award, 2016

Utah State University

Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2014

University of Alabama

Outstanding Dissertation in the Social Sciences, 2013

College of Arts and Science, University of Alabama


Publications | Books

      Publications | Book Chapters

    • Dengah, H.J, Budge, J., Broadbent, L., Davis, J., Neal, C., Searle, K., Tauber, D., Wanner, J., (2017). Virtually Together: Collaborative Experiences in an Online World: Practicing Ethnography: A Student Guide to Method and Methodology. University of Toronto Press

    An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

    Publications | Journal Articles

    Academic Journal

    • Dengah, H.J, Else, R., Polzer, E., Snodgrass, J., (2018). The Social Networks and Distinctive Experiences of Intensively Involved Online Gamers: A Novel Mixed Methods Approach. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 80, 229-242.
    • Lacy, M., Snodgrass, J., Meyer, M., Dengah, H.J, Benedict, N., (2018). A Formal Method for Detecting and Describing Cultural Complexity: Extending Classical Consensus Analysis. , 30:3
    • Dengah, H.J, (2017). Being part of the Nação: Examining Costly Religious Rituals in a Brazilian Neo-Pentecostal Church. Ethos, 45:1, 48-74.
    • Dengah, H.J, (2016). Religious Dissociation and Economic Appraisal in Brazil. Journal of religion and health, 55:2, 522-534.
    • Snodgrass, J.G, Lacy, M.G, Dengah, H.J, Eisenhauer, S., Batchelder, G., Cookson, R.J, (2014). A vacation from your mind: Problematic online gaming is a stress response. Computers in Human Behavior, 38, 248–260.
    • Dengah, H.J, (2014). How religious status shapes psychological well-being: Cultural consonance as a measure of subcultural status among Brazilian Pentecostals. Social Science & Medicine, 114, 18–25.
    • Snodgrass, J.G, Dengah, H.J, Lacy, M.G, (2014). “I Swear to God, I Only Want People Here Who Are Losers!” Cultural Dissonance and the (Problematic) Allure of Azeroth. Medical anthropology quarterly, 28:4, 480–501.
    • Snodgrass, J.G, Dengah, H.J, Lacy, M.G, Fagan, J., (2013). A formal anthropological view of motivation models of problematic MMO play: achievement, social, and immersion factors in the context of culture. Transcultural psychiatry, 1363461513487666.
    • Dressler, W.W, Dengah, H.J, Balieiro, M.C, dos Santos, J.E, (2013). Consonancia Cultural, Religiao e Sofrimento Psicologico em uma Comunidade Urbana. Paidéia (Ribeirao Preto), 23:55, 151–160.
    • Dengah, H.J, (2013). The Contract with God: Patterns of Cultural Consensus Across Two Brazilian Religious Communities. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library
    • Snodgrass, J.G, Dengah, H.J, Lacy, M.G, Fagan, J., Most, D., Blank, M., Howard, L., Kershner, C.R, Krambeer, G., Leavitt-Reynolds, A., others, , (2012). Restorative magical adventure or warcrack? Motivated MMO play and the pleasures and perils of online experience. Games and Culture, 7:1, 3–28.
    • Snodgrass, J.G, Lacy, M.G, Dengah, H.J, Fagan, J., (2011). Cultural Consonance and Mental Wellness in the World of Warcraft: Online Games as Cognitive Technologies of ‘Absorption-Immersion’. Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
    • Snodgrass, J.G, Lacy, M.G, Dengah, H.J, Fagan, J., (2011). Enhancing one life rather than living two: Playing MMOs with offline friends. Computers in Human Behavior, 27:3, 1211–1222.
    • Snodgrass, J.G, Lacy, M.G, Dengah, H.J, Fagan, J., Most, D.E, (2011). Magical flight and monstrous stress: technologies of absorption and mental wellness in Azeroth. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 35:1, 26–62.

    An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

    Publications | Other

    Magazine/Trade Publications

    • Dengah, H.J, (2014). Anthropology is Elementary and can be Taught There: Teaching Four-Field Anthropology to 3rd and 4th Grade Students. Anthropology News *
    • Dengah, H.J, (2012). Using Cultural Consonance to Understand the Religion-Health Connection among Brazilian Evangelicals. Anthropology News *

    Other

      An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

      Teaching

      ANTH 3140 - Anthropology of Sex and Gender, Fall 2023
      ANTH 4170 - Ethnographic Methods in Anthropology, Fall 2023
      ANTH, RELS 3160 - Anthropology of Religion, Spring 2023
      ANTH 5900 - Independent Studies, Spring 2023
      ANTH 4130 - Introduction to Medical Anthropology, Spring 2023
      ANTH 4170 - Ethnographic Methods in Anthropology, Fall 2022
      ANTH 4180 - Ethnography of Virtual Cultures, Fall 2022
      , Summer 2022
      ANTH 4990 - Contemporary Issues in Anthropology, Summer 2022
      ANTH 4160 - Evolution of Religion: The Cognitive Science of Religion and Faith, Spring 2022
      ANTH 4800 - Topics in Anthropology, Spring 2022
      ANTH 3140 - Anthropology of Sex and Gender, Fall 2021
      ANTH 3130 - Peoples of Latin America, Fall 2021
      ANTH, RELS 3160 - Anthropology of Religion, Spring 2021
      ANTH 4130 - Introduction to Medical Anthropology, Spring 2021
      ANTH 3160 - Anthropology of Religion, Spring 2020
      RELS 3160 - Anthropology of Religion, Spring 2020
      ANTH 4160 - Evolution of Religion: The Cognitive Science of Religion and Faith, Spring 2020
      ANTH 3140 - Anthropology of Sex and Gender, Fall 2019
      ANTH 3130 - Peoples of Latin America, Fall 2019
      ANTH 3160 - Anthropology of Religion, Spring 2019
      ANTH 1010 - Cultural Anthropology, Spring 2019
      ANTH 3160 - Anthropology of Religion, Fall 2018
      ANTH 3130 - Peoples of Latin America, Fall 2018
      ANTH 4170 - Ethnographic Methods in Anthropology, Spring 2018
      ANTH 5900 - Independent Studies, Spring 2018
      ANTH 4800 - Topics in Anthropology, Spring 2018
      ANTH 3140 - Anthropology of Sex and Gender, Fall 2017
      ANTH 4800 - Topics in Anthropology, Fall 2017
      ANTH 4170 - Ethnographic Methods in Anthropology, Spring 2017
      HONR 4900 - Honors Thesis/Capstone, Spring 2017
      ANTH 5900 - Independent Studies, Spring 2017
      ANTH 4800 - Topics in Anthropology, Spring 2017
      ANTH 3160 - Anthropology of Religion, Fall 2016
      ANTH 3140 - Anthropology of Sex and Gender, Fall 2016
      ANTH 5900 - Independent Studies, Fall 2016
      ANTH 1010 - Cultural Anthropology, Spring 2016
      ANTH 4800 - Evolution of Religion, Spring 2016
      ANTH 1010 - Cultural Anthropology, Fall 2015
      ANTH 4170 - Ethnographic Methods in Anthropology, Fall 2015
      ANTH 1010 - Cultural Anthropology, Spring 2015
      ANTH 4170,6170 - Ethnographic Methods in Anthropology, Spring 2015
      ANTH 3130 - Peoples of Latin America, Fall 2014