Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology
About
I am a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at the University of Michigan. I apply a wide range of material analyses to understand the daily decisions people make in contexts of political transformation. I am especially interested in the entanglements of Indigenous sovereignty and settler colonialism in the past and present, and work with a multi-vocal praxis that centers Indigenous scholarship and voices in my work. While I've conducted research in the Meditteranean, Belize, and various US states, my regional expertise lies in the Southeast US and the wetlands of coastal South Carolina.
My dissertation explores the small-scale, integrative strategies of Indigenous Nations during the colonial period in North America. I focus on the Yamasee, an ancestrally diverse Native American community who moved to and built a powerful nation in coastal South Carolina at the turn of the 18th century. I take a bottom-up or households-based approach that centers Yamasee women in broader networks of social and political integration. To do so, I join extant and new archaeological, environmental, and archival data from 6 Yamasee towns.
Most of my research has focused on the Yamasee capital town of Pocotaligo, where I have conducted fieldwork with the support of national granting agencies and over 40 student volunteers. I and specialists are currently conducting analyses on ceramics and plant and animal remains to understand the cultural milieu of Yamasee towns and the kin ties that connected them.
I am always eager to work with volunteers of all ages and collaborate with scholars and communities interested in this work! Please feel free to email me.
