Anthropologist and filmmaker
Center for Media, Culture and History
New York University
Pegi Vail is an anthropologist and filmmaker at the Center for Media, Culture and History at New York University (NYU). Her academic work has focused on visual anthropology, Indigenous media and on the political economy of tourism in the developing world. She has taught on Film and Culture, Tourist Productions, and documentary filmmaking.
Vail is a former Fulbright scholar who has served as a lecturer internationally with Columbia University Alumni Travel Study tours and National Geographic, as well as at conferences on tourism and media anthropology. As a curator, she collaborates with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, American Museum of Natural History, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and The Moth, the storytelling collective for which she was a founding board member, curator, and storytelling alumna. Her award-winning feature documentary, Gringo Trails (Icarus Films/Andana Films), looks at the long term cultural and environmental effects of global tourism. It was broadcast and released theatrically in North America in 2014 and has been shown in over 50 festivals and screenings in 20 countries. Most recently she worked as the cultural consultant on Felix & Paul Studios‘ Nomads virtual reality (VR) series for Oculus/Facebook.