Laurel Kendall is an anthropologist who is a specialist in Korean cultural studies, especially shamanism.

She first arrived in South Korea in 1970 as a Peace Corps volunteer and said she was drawn to shamanism given the major role of women in the rituals.

A curator at the American Museum of Natural History in Washington, she received her doctorate in anthropology from Columbia University in New York.

Kendall has written several books on Korean gender roles and shamanism.