Alissa Rivers was born and raised in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina. She is currently a senior at Furman, double-majoring in Anthropology and Japanese Studies. From a young age, cultures that were different from her own, especially those in East Asia, have sparked Alissa's interest. Alissa participated in the Japan Summer Experience in 2016, Japan May Experience in 2018, and the British Isle Study Away. She also lived in the Japanese Language House during 2017-2018 and conducted research in Linguistics in Summer 2019. Alissa is currently the president of the Korean Language Instruction and Culture Club, involved in several other campus clubs and is one of two docents who work at the Place of Peace on campus.

In her own words...

I am naturally a very curious person, and I have always wanted to know what shapes the people around me. Why do people experience the world differently? What causes people to act a certain way? I believe our culture and socialization give people a solid foundation upon which most people build their individuality and through which they express themselves. I study anthropology because I want to know about other cultures and ways of living, and I want to understand them in depth. I am also majoring in Japanese Studies so that I can learn more about Japanese culture and history in particular. Once I graduate from Furman, I will teach English abroad, challenging myself by living in cultures that I am not a part of. After that, I will go on to graduate school in anthropology and conduct research to further expand the field. For me, our knowledge of the world is only as good as our knowledge of ourselves, and anthropology is a discipline that develops and diversifies that understanding.