Affiliation(s):

• Wayne State University, Department of Anthropology
• Grosscup Museum of Anthropology
• WSU Academy of Scholars
• Academic Senate
  

My main area of research remains the Andean highlands of South American, primarily Ecuador but also Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina. I study ancient empires, with my specialty being the Inca Empire. My current research looks at the role material objects play in constructing and maintaining power, how engaging with non-western ontologies can help inform interpretations of the archaeological record, and how technological styles may relate to social identity. In addition to launching a new field project in southern Ecuador this summer (fingers crossed!), I’m also leading several large comparative projects with colleagues working in different parts of the world.

As a grad student, I’d decided I wanted to focus on the Inca for my dissertation research. While Peru was the Inca heartland, at the time, this region was essentially off-limits due to the widespread activities of the guerilla movement known as Sendero Luminoso. So, I opted to do my dissertation work in Ecuador, on the frontier of the imperial Inca state, and have continued fieldwork and research there ever since.

I see recognition of indigenous peoples’ ways of knowing and living in the world as increasingly important, particularly for challenging status quo scientific frameworks, re-thinking taken-for-granted assumptions about such things as objectivity, animacy, human autonomy, etc., and expanding our interpretations of phenomena. New ideas about materiality, agency, relationality, etc. are reverberating across many fields. As an archaeologist investigating pre-capitalist societies, it makes good sense to explore indigenous/alternative ontologies in trying to interpret the archaeological record. But other fields, as well, like physics, astronomy, ecology, etc. are also making discoveries and building models that seem to be converging with Native understandings of reality and how the world works. So, I’m very much into exploring these new paths.

My latest favorite book is called Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Kimmerer, a botanist and ecologist, and an enrolled member of the Potawatomi nation.

My role models are various of the female archaeologists from the generation that preceded me. Among them are Joan Gero and Meg Conkey—both mentors and friends, as well as other figures like Alice Kehoe, Patti Jo Watson, Anna O. Shepard, and Tatiana Proskouriakoff. I admire them for their contributions, their creativity, their passion, and perhaps, most of all, for the perseverance it took to succeed and shine in a male-dominated field.

For fun, I like to be outside and be active. I bike ride, hike, play some tennis, do a little skiing, go camping, try to get to the beach sometimes, etc.