Edward M. Bruner (September 28, 1924 – August 7, 2020) was professor emeritus of anthropology and criticism and interpretive theory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

He was an American anthropologist known for his contributions to the anthropology of tourism, particularly his constructivist, processual approach that centers on experience and narrative in and beyond tourist settings.

After World War II, he attended Ohio State University, where he met his wife, Elaine C. Bruner.

[2] In addition to his own prolific scholarship on migration, identity, performance, ritual, and tourism/ tourist productions, he trained many scholars who were to go on to make important contributions to anthropology, including Russell Bernard and Carol Stack.

His scholarship pushed for the recognition of tourism as an important lens for understanding how culture is generated and performed, and for gleaning insights into the role of narratives in meaning-making.