Williams, Ph.D., Judith

Judith Williams, Ph.D., is a sociocultural anthropologist whose ethnographies of restaurant workers explores the construct of racial hierarchies within the country’s restaurant industry. A former chef and caterer, Williams’ experience working in the upper echelons of the culinary industry infuses her work with an experiential dimension of understanding. Her current research explores the phenomenon of “Maître Divas,” tokenized Black women who work in lucrative front-of-house positions in the restaurant industry. She is an assistant professor in the anthropology of race and ethnicity at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.