Maura Finkelstein is a writer, ethnographer, and Associate Professor of Anthropology at Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, PA. She is the author of The Archive of Loss: Lively Ruination in Mill Land Mumbai (Duke UP, 2019). Her writing has also appeared in journals such as Post45, Anthropological Quarterly, Cultural Anthropology, GLQ, and City and Society. 

She is currently at work on two books. First, a memoir about her time on the PBS historical recreation reality television show, Texas Ranch House. And second, a nonfiction book about therapeutic horseback riding, based on six years of ethnographic research and work at an equine therapy program. The book explores horse-human communication, multi-species kinship, and the surprising way creatures create community.

She has an MA in anthropology from Columbia University (2005) and a PhD in anthropology from Stanford University (2012).