Geographical Areas of Specialization: Mesoamerica , Belize, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Topical Interests: Archaeology, settlement patterns, Maya, gender, ethics, archaeology and social context
Current Courses: on leave
Profile:
Most of my primary research has taken
place in Belize , where I have directed major excavations and general
mapping and reconnaissance in the remains of three ancient Maya
cities. The focus of my research in Belize has been on understanding
and reconstructing very large systems of human organization that
developed before the modern world system, for which the Maya provide
a crucial example as one of the few places in the world where urbanism
developed independently. When I was in graduate school, these were
called early states or complex societies. My investigations have
led me to believe that such terms are teleological; they served
the purpose of introducing early scholars to interesting foci of
comparison between cultures, but have reached the end of their usefulness
and now impede our ability to perceive ways of life not derived
from the model. The narrowness of this view channeled investigation
into the reification of "rises" and "collapses," models of such
oversimplification that they are impossible to disprove. So while
my primary research continues to document dramatic organizational
variation and invention, impressive technological changes and volatile
political economy, I see these processes as historical rather than
as developmental.
As scientists archaeologists
need to be aware of the sociopolitical agendas we contribute to
with our research and be braver about addressing the issues we really
believe in. I believe archaeologists are best prepared to face the
political present as teachers with ideas and information based on
our study of the past that are relevant to policy decisions. We
are not qualified to make those decisions or to dictate the future,
but knowledge is power and we can use it to make a difference. For
example, might an uncritical focus on the power of elites and the
glory of kings reinforce a worldview among our admirers and students
that we don't actually believe in or want to promote? Might the
perpetuation of a model that organizes world cultures into an historical
trajectory that evolves naturally to become a hierarchical state
reflect more of the political present that it teaches about the
past? Is it really either scientific or desirable to provide this
uncritical validation for the status quo? Once you get started it's
easy to come up with similar questions about they way we approach
gender, labor, technology and other facets of past societies. Are
we asking questions in such a way that the ascendancy of a particular
sort of political economy is always confirmed?
I approach teaching as
a scholarly activity. Understanding the needs of students and the
success of classroom strategies requires ethnographic research that
falls within the purview of anthropology. I teach undergraduates
in a general COAS topics course, in archaeological research methods,
in archaeological ethics and in archaeological approaches to understanding
the cultures of ancient Mesoamerica . All my classes involve hands-on
learning and exposure to data collection and analysis, but this
teaching emphasis culminates in the archaeology field program I
run in Belize every other year. My passion for raising the standards
of critical thinking among college students in the United States
has resulted in the NSF funded MATRIX project aimed at improving
archaeology education at the national level. My commitment to developing
a more engaged discipline has resulted in my collaboration on a
textbook with Rosemary Joyce, my contribution to the creation of
a new graduate program in Archaeology and Social Context at IU,
and my willingness to mentor graduate students pursuing a variety
of research interests.
My graduate classes cover
archaeological methods, ethics, Maya, gender and a variety of topical
courses, such as Archaeology Heritage and Violence, Maya Archaeology
in the Political Present, and Material Culture. I have a lively
bunch of graduate students planning or finishing research in Belize
, Egypt , Canada , Germany , Ireland , Mexico , Africa , and Minnesota
.
Ethics Committee, American
Anthropological Association (2001-2003) (elected, chair elect for
2004)
Associate Editor for Book
Reviews, Latin American Antiquity (2002-2004)
Committee on Archaeology
in Higher Education, Archaeological Institute of America (2000-2003)
Wiseman Book Award Committee,
Archaeological Institute of America (2003-2004)
World Archaeological Congress Theme: Interpreting
Archaeology (2003)
Selected Publications:
| 2004 |
Ungendering Civilization: Reinterpreting the Archaeological
Record , K. A. Pyburn, ed. (Routledge) scheduled
for publication in February of 2004 |
| 2004 |
with C.H. Andres Out of Sight: The Postclassic and Early
Colonial Periods at Chau Hiix. Chapter for The Terminal Classic
in the Maya Lowlands : Collapse, Transition, and Transformation
. Arthur Demarest, Don Rice and Prudence Rice, eds., Westview.
|
| 2003 |
Archaeology and the Gender without History, Chapter for
Women and Work , Society for Economic Anthropology 2003, G.
Clark ed. AltaMira |
| 2003 |
The Hydrology of Chau Hiix, Ancient Mesoamerica 14: 123-129
|
| 2003 |
We Have Never Been Postmodern. Maya Archaeology at the
Millennium . Pp. 285-291, Greg Borgstede and Charles Golden,
eds. Routeledge 1998 |
| 2003 |
What are we really teaching in archaeological field schools?
Chapter for Handbook of Archaeological Ethics . Pp. 213-223,
L. Zimmerman, KD Vitelli & J. Zimmer, eds. |
| 2003 |
Archaeology for a New Millennium: The Rules of Engagement.
Archaeologists and Local Communities: Partners in Exploring
the Past , Society for American Archaeology Linda Derry and
Maureen Molloy, eds. |
| 2002 |
The Freedom of Worthless Women, Chapter in Personal Encounters
in Anthropology: An Introductory Reader . Linda Walbridge
and April Sievert, eds.; Mayfield. |
| 2000 |
Gatekeeping, Housekeeping, Peacekeeping. Sharing Archaeology
With Kids: A Handbook of Strategies, Issues And Resources For
K-12 Archaeology Education , Pp. 274-278, S. Smith and K Smardz,
eds., Altamira Press, California. |
