About

Katherine E. Hoffman is an associate professor of anthropology at Northwestern University, specializing in linguistic, sociocultural, and legal anthropology. Her research explores the relationship between expressive culture, ethnicity, law, history, and political economy, primarily in North Africa, especially Morocco. Her work examines how processes such as French colonialism, anti-imperialism, nationalism, and postnationalism have shaped ethnolinguistic repertoires, legal systems, and political identities. Hoffman authored the book "We Share Walls: Language, Land and Gender in Berber Morocco" (2008), which provides an ethnographic account of how political economy and migration influence rural ethnolinguistic practices among the Ishelhin Berbers of southwestern Morocco. She is also working on a second book, "Mirror of the Soul: Language, Islam, and Law in French Native Policy of Morocco (1912-1956)," which analyzes language ideologies underpinning French colonial administration and their impact on Moroccan nationalism and minority rights, with particular focus on Berber customary courts. Her research extends to the broader Maghreb region, including southern Tunisia and Western Libya, where she investigates the role of ethnicity in refugee integration and the impact of the Arab Spring revolutions on minority populations, especially the Amazigh (Berber) communities. Hoffman is involved in projects examining transnational migration and regimes of care for Muslim children, including the Islamic guardianship (kafala) system, and human rights discourses surrounding family formation. She has received numerous fellowships, including from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the NSF, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Lyon. Hoffman has served on editorial boards of prominent anthropology journals and has conducted fieldwork in Tashelhit Berber, Moroccan Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and French. Beyond her scholarly pursuits, she has worked extensively on visual and print media projects, consulting for National Geographic and contributing to documentary films and travel guides to increase understanding of Muslim populations and Moroccan culture.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Endocrinology
• Pathology
• Immunology

Selected publications

• Extracellular iron and the lung microbiome in smoking and COPD

  ERJ Open Research · 2025-06-15

  articleOpen access

  Background Most microorganisms that make up the lung microbiome use several iron acquisition strategies for survival. Iron levels and iron-associated proteins are higher in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of smokers with and smokers without COPD associating with disease severity. In this study we assessed whether or not smokers with and smokers without COPD who have increased airway iron display a specifically altered airway microbiome. Methods 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing of BALF from individuals (n=181) enrolled in the bronchoscopy substudy of the SubPopulations and InteRmediate Outcome Measures In COPD Study (SPIROMICS) was paired with measured levels of BALF iron, the iron storage protein ferritin (ex-ferritin) and the host-iron siderophore lipocalin-2 (LCN-2) in matched participants. Results Overall, iron, ex-ferritin and LCN-2 levels were not associated with ecological diversity metrics in the BALF of participants enrolled in this cohort. However, in a differential analysis, specific taxa were found to be enriched in never-smokers with low BALF ex-ferritin levels and also in smokers with high BALF iron levels. Of participants with COPD, an unclassified taxon, Bacteroidetes - OTU0063, was enriched in those with a high BALF iron level and those with a low BALF LCN-2 level. Furthermore, COPD participants with a high number of historical exacerbations and a high BALF LCN-2 level showed enrichment for Streptococcus and Leptotrichia . Leptotrichia was also enriched in participants with COPD and a high number of historical exacerbations with elevated BALF iron and BALF ex-ferritin levels. In addition, symptomatic individuals with COPD who had a high BALF ex-ferritin level had enrichment with Moraxella . Conclusion The above data suggest that abundance of iron and iron-binding proteins may be linked to the presence of both oral commensals and potentially pathogenic microorganisms in the lower airways of individuals with COPD.

  PublisherDOI

• Table of Contents

  American Journal Of Pathology · 2022-06-23

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Serum proteomic profiling of rheumatoid arthritis–interstitial lung disease with a comparison to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

  Thorax · 2022 · 22 citations

  • Medicine
  • Pathology
  • Immunology

  Although interstitial lung disease (ILD) causes significant morbidity and mortality in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), it is difficult to predict the development or progression of ILD, emphasising the need for improved discovery through minimally invasive diagnostic tests. Aptamer-based proteomic profiling was used to assess 1321 proteins from 159 patients with rheumatoid arthritis with interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD), RA without ILD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and healthy controls. Differential expression and gene set enrichment analyses revealed molecular signatures that are strongly associated with the presence and severity of RA-ILD and provided insight into unexplored pathways of disease. These warrant further study as non-invasive diagnostic tools and future therapeutic targets.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Hyperglycemia in acute COVID-19 is characterized by insulin resistance and adipose tissue infectivity by SARS-CoV-2

  Cell Metabolism · 2021-12-01 · 51 citations

  erratumOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Hyperglycemia in Acute COVID-19 is Characterized by Adipose Tissue Dysfunction and Insulin Resistance

  medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2021 · 19 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Endocrinology

  COVID-19 has proven to be a metabolic disease resulting in adverse outcomes in individuals with diabetes or obesity. Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and hyperglycemia suffer from longer hospital stays, higher risk of developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and increased mortality compared to those who do not develop hyperglycemia. Nevertheless, the pathophysiological mechanism(s) of hyperglycemia in COVID-19 remains poorly characterized. Here we show that insulin resistance rather than pancreatic beta cell failure is the prevalent cause of hyperglycemia in COVID-19 patients with ARDS, independent of glucocorticoid treatment. A screen of protein hormones that regulate glucose homeostasis reveals that the insulin sensitizing adipokine adiponectin is reduced in hyperglycemic COVID-19 patients. Hamsters infected with SARS-CoV-2 also have diminished expression of adiponectin. Together these data suggest that adipose tissue dysfunction may be a driver of insulin resistance and adverse outcomes in acute COVID-19.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Anthropology in the Archives: History in Gendered Testimony and Text

  Hespéris, Tamuda · 2021-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  EnglishFor the ethnographer of the Maghreb interested in studying history so as to better understand the present, a foray into the archives has become almost a rite of passage. Whereas collecting oral histories from elderly interlocutors in the field used to provide the desired testimony to change over time, anthropological critiques of narrative and memory as inherently shaped by present concerns have turned anthropologists towards paper texts produced in the past. Critiques from within anthropology as to the ethics of participant observation have fueled skepticism towards the field research endeavor, with archives appearing to provide a field “site” that avoids the problems of researcher positionality. Yet, once immersed in the archives, the ethnographer finds that the seeming certainty of historical texts is an illusion. I argue that Amazigh (Berber) women figure centrally in both Protectorate and tribal preoccupations only when the scribe worked in a format that required him to document womenʼs testimonies in verbatim or summarized proces-verbal from direct contact with women, as in customary court daybooks. In contrast, womenʼs participation in legal and political life is largely absent in Protectorate policy correspondence and tribal reports. Court daybooks provide a glimpse into the ways Anti-Atlas Mountain women, as well as men, navigated legal pluralism between local forms of Berber custom and Islamic fiqh (jurisprudence). I demonstrate how the researcher’s understanding of women’s lives and their roles in political (tribal, central state) and legal affairs differs radically depending on the sources consulted francaisPour tout ethnographe du Maghreb voulant comprendre le present a travers l’etude de l’histoire, une incursion dans les archives est devenue presque un rite de passage. La collecte dʼhistoires orales aupres dʼinterlocuteurs âges sur le terrain a longtemps servi d’instrument a l’etude du changement social dans la duree. Mais les critiques anthropologiques qui ont montre que recits et memoire etaient intrinsequement faconnes par les preoccupations du present ont oriente les anthropologues vers des annales ecrites dans le passe. De plus, les critiques formulees par des anthropologues sur l’ethique de l’observation participante ont alimente le scepticisme vis-a-vis des recherches de terrain et ont fait apparaitre les archives comme un “site”de recherche qui permet au chercheur d’eviter les problemes lies a sa positionnalite. Or, une fois plonge dans les archives, l’ethnographe se rend vite compte que lʼapparente certitude des textes historiques est une illusion. Dans cet article, j’argumente que les femmes amazighes (berberes) n’apparaissent au centre des preoccupations du Protectorat et des tribus que dans les cas ou le greffier devait documenter les temoignages des plaignantes et fournir les resumes des proces-verbaux apres avoir ete en contact direct avec ces femmes; comme l’illustrent les registres brouillards des tribunaux coutumiers au Maroc. En revanche, la participation des femmes a la vie juridique et politique est largement absente de la correspondance politique et des rapports des officiers des Affaires Indigenes. Les registres brouillards donnent un apercu de la maniere dont les femmes, ainsi que les hommes, de l’Anti-Atlas s’adaptaient au pluralisme juridique reunissant des formes locales du droit coutumier berbere et du fiqh islamique (jurisprudence). Ainsi, la comprehension des chercheurs de la vie des femmes rurales et de leurs roles dans les affaires juridiques sous le Protectorat differe radicalement selon les sources consultees

  Publisher

• Archival Ethnography in the Customary Courts: Legal and Linguistic Pluralism under French Protectorate

  Hespéris, Tamuda · 2020-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This article examines the multiple languages and legal codes used in the Berber customary courts (tribunaux coutumiers) established by the French Protectorate of Morocco and serving rural Berber communities for two decades, from around 1930 to 1956. It examines the ways in which both French and North African scribes and officers encoded court proceedings primarily in French, as per policy, but used transliterated TashelḥitBerber terms for uniquely Berber legal institutions, concepts, and deed types, as well as items of material culture. This examination of the use and effects of the entextualization of otherwise oral Berber language and law into writing, focusing on five customary courts of the eastern Anti-Atlas Mountains, suggests that the widespread practice of using Berber in Protectorate documents both reflected oral interactions in the courts and furthered French Native Policy goals. The latter primarily encouraged the promulgation of Berber custom over Islamic law, and framed custom as distinct from Islamic law despite evidence of a more fluid legal pluralism long in place. Nonetheless, the result was a set of legal registers that were incomprehensible to French officials other than those familiar with Tashelḥit Berber language and Berber customary legal concepts.

  Publisher

• Famille, filiation et foi

  Presses universitaires de Rennes eBooks · 2020-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  La notion de famille est juridiquement circonscrite à divers lieux, à divers buts ; le sens de la parentalité est également le résultat d’une socialisation entreprise par les individus dans leurs pratiques quotidiennes de soin, d’éducation et d’affection envers l’enfant. Cette perspective est une évidence pour les anthropologues et les sociologues, mais elle a été reconnue explicitement par la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme (Cour EDH) en Mazurek c. France (2010, § 50), dans sa référenc...

  PublisherDOI

• "Un COS! valoroso cavalliero": Knightly Honor and Artistic Representation in OrlandojUrioso, Canto 26

  2020-11-27

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Morocco

  T.M.C. Asser Press eBooks · 2019-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter considers laws and social realities determining the status of the Moroccan child born inside or outside of marriage. It considers first, the legal grounds for filiation and second, the legal framework for guardianship of parentless (abandoned or orphaned) children. In both the legal and social approaches to these two issues, there are several constants over time, especially the strong – but not absolute – influence of Maliki jurisprudence. Proposed reforms in the deeply conservative fields of family and guardianship laws indicate that judges are not only considering the 2011 Moroccan Constitution, the 2004 Family Code (Moudawana) and the 2002 kafala (guardianship) law, but also the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and its concept of the best interests of the child. I argue that in regards to kafala guardianships, which are handled under contract law rather than family law in Morocco, the state occupies an ambivalent position, mandating replacement care at the level expected of biological parents while denying the child the rights and responsibilities of biological children. Recent cases in the Moroccan courts question longstanding conservative approaches to gender as well as family, raising the possibility of female-headed families (not only households) by issuing family booklets to women, and increasing calls to recognize biological paternity as entailing responsibilities otherwise only expected of fathers with paternal filiation through marriage.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sergio Alvarez-Mulett

  New York Hospital Queens

  5 shared

• Augustine M.K. Choi

  Cornell University

  5 shared

• Luis G. Gómez-Escobar

  Cornell University

  5 shared

• Edward J. Schenck

  New York Hospital Queens

  5 shared

• Laura Alonso

  New York Proton Center

  4 shared

• Moritz Reiterer

  Cornell University

  4 shared

• Fernando J. Martínez

  Cornell University

  4 shared

• Anthony J. Esposito

  Northwestern University

  4 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Anthropology

  University of Chicago

  2005

• M.A., Anthropology

  University of Chicago

  2001

• B.A., Anthropology

  University of California, Berkeley

  1998

Awards & honors

• American Council of Learned Societies' Charles A. Ryskamp Re…
• National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Fellowship
• NSF RAPID program fellowship
• Wenner-Gren Foundation fellowship
• Social Science Research Council fellowship (two divisions)