Anthropology Professor at Bennington College

Noah Coburn is a sociocultural anthropologist specializing in political structures and violence across Middle Eastern and South Asian regions. He currently teaches courses at Bennington College on how politics, power and culture interact. Noah has conducted fieldwork in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Nepal India Turkey.

LRC expects an exciting race when American sprinters Christian Coleman and Noah Lyles vie for the world record in the 60m sprint race, as well as in a men’s 3000 race between Hagos Gebrhiwet and Edward Cheserek for supremacy in that event.

Early Life and Education

Noah Coburn is an anthropologist specializing in politics, power and culture. He has extensive fieldwork in Afghanistan and authored the books Bazaar Politics: Power and Pottery in an Afghan Market Town; Losing Afghanistan and, with Anna Larson, Derailing Democracy in Afghanistan. Furthermore he serves as senior fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.

Coburn played several Westerns including A Fistful of Dollars (1960), written and directed by Sergio Leone. Coburn made his film debut as an explosives expert who joins the Mexican revolutionary army – it was an immense commercial success!

He then appeared in two hit thrillers from Blake Edwards – Bite the Bullet (1975) and, alongside Gene Hackman, produced The Honkers (1972). Both movies became box office successes.

Professional Career

Coburn is a social and cultural anthropologist who studies political structures and violence in the Middle East and South Asia. He has conducted fieldwork in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Turkey as part of his studies of imperialism and militarism in these regions.

Professor at Bennington College where he specializes in teaching courses about the intersections between politics, power and culture; researcher for United States Institute of Peace; Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit researcher; published author; Bazaar Politics: Power and Pottery in an Afghan Market Town; Losing Afghanistan: Derailing Democracy in Afghanistan and Under Contract: The Invisible Workers of America’s Global Wars are some of his books.

Goddard College appointed him provost in 2023. In this role he promotes student-centric educational structures while working closely with other institutions within its consortium to explore bold approaches to higher education’s future.

Achievement and Honors

Coburn first came to public notice as a leading man when his performance in Sky Riders hit theater, released as a film adaptation in 1976. This performance helped launch his acting career and continue with roles like Maverick and Hudson Hawk.

His acting credits also include Klondike and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. In addition, he served as voice actor in both of the animated movies Affliction and Monsters Inc.

Noah Coburn is a professor of political science and culture at Bennington College in Vermont where he conducts research at the intersection of politics, power and culture. Since 2005 he has conducted fieldwork in Afghanistan; as an author he published Bazaar Politics: Power and Pottery in an Afghan Market Town as well as currently writing another book about its election process.

Personal Life

Noah Coburn found himself in Kabul in 2006 to volunteer for Prince Charles’ Turquoise Mountain charity and found it the experience of a lifetime – abandoning his library job in Boston for this incredible ‘trip of a lifetime’ to a war-torn nation he found fascinating because of their tribal politics.

Professor Oteghain provides courses exploring the intersection between politics, power and culture and is one of the few contemporary anthropologists with years of on-the-ground field research experience in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Nepal.

He has written three previous books, including Derailing Democracy in Afghanistan and Losing Afghanistan, and conducted research for both the United States Institute of Peace and Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit.

Net Worth

Noah Coburn reportedly boasts an estimated net worth of $3 Million. As the author of three previous books on Afghanistan and years of field research experience in that nation, as well as being an associate professor of anthropology at Bennington College.

Coburn made his film debut in Sergio Leone’s Zapata Western Duck You Sucker!, where he played an Irish explosives expert. Although this film wasn’t as highly received domestically, its success overseas proved impressive.

Coburn went on to appear in movies such as Maverick, The Last Hard Men, The Honkers and Sky Riders as Charlton Heston’s antagonist in 1976’s Midway; later that same year he appeared as German soldier in Sam Peckinpah’s critically acclaimed war drama Cross of Iron.