Research Interests
I like asking questions about how we experience, document, interpret, and communicate human action in the world. This is motivated by an interest in demonstrating the continuity of historical events with present situations. For instance, how has the volatile mix of subjective, objective, and symbolic violence interacted with changing economic and political systems during the past century, and what can anthropology do to both analyze and heal the deep inequalities present in today's world?
My research interests currently include: Historical Archaeology, Ethnographic Archaeology, Race and Racism, African and Chinese Diasporas, Anthropological GIS, Digital/Virtual Heritage, New Media, Engaged Pedagogy, American South, South Pacific, East Asia, Caribbean.
Please, have a look at some of my past and ongoing research below.
The Virtual Rosewood Research Site - the web page accompanying my PhD work at the University of Florida. The site explores the use of anthropology, historical methods, and new media in creating spaces of dialogue about the history of race relations in our country. It also includes some preliminary information on my growing work with the redress movement and reparations activism. As of September 2010, this project has resulted in a contribution to the field notes section of Anthropology News, a September 2010 article in the SAA Record, and a September 2010 contribution to the African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter. I am presently preparing other articles and a book-length treatment of this research.
Caribbean Archaeology - various projects to organize, manage, and interpret heritage resources from the circum-Caribbean area. This includes creating GIS for the Foutain of Youth (FOY) park in St. Augustine, En Bas Saline (EBS) in Haiti, and ongoing work with landscape studies on Eleuthera, Bahamas and Nevis using 3D GIS. I have recently returned from a research trip to Eleuthera and am planning a field school for summer 2012 on Nevis investigating the island's prehistoric and historic heritage.
Chinese Diaspora Emigrant Areas Locator (CDEAL) GIS - an ongoing project began as an undergraduate in 2003 drawing on a variety of historical sources to aid in creating a diasporic archaeology of Chinese communities worldwide. The central position of this project is the assertion that diasporic projects require multi-sited approaches. My first publication from this research was a book chapter for a Hirosaki University Press book, my chapter is titled オタゴ に 置ける 中国人 の歴史 (Otago ni okeru chuugokujin no rekishi – The History of the Chinese in Otago), and it traces the experience of New Zealand's Chinese community from the 1860s until today drawing on recent ideas about creaolization, hybridity, and ethnogenesis. This also forms the core methodological contribution in my upcoming International Journal of Historical Archaeology article.
Lawrence Chinese Camp, NZ - I first became aware of this site while on a Fulbright scholarship from the University of Arkansas in 2002-2003. I spent another month in 2006 and another six months in 2008 working with the local community and archaeologists from the University of Otago. At present, a discussion of this site represents the largest of three case studies I explore in an upcoming (2012) International Journal of Historical Archaeology publication. I also discuss this site in my 2009 Historical Archaeology article.
GIS and Arctic Archaeology - the web version of my masters thesis from Michigan Technological University. This project explores a new geodatabase format for meeting the ethical obligations of archaeologists in regards to their datasets. I used the lessons learned to return to my previous work in New Zealand, which became the basis for a 2009 Historical Archaeology article.
GPS & GIS in New Zealand Historical Archaeology - the web version of my undergraduate thesis examining the growing role of information technologies and 3D modeling in public archaeology. I published on this experience in a 2004 Archaeology in New Zealand article and a 2007 contribution to the Technical Briefs in Historical Archaeology.
Manuals & Tutorials
Practical Guide to GPS - an online version of a step-by-step GPS guide for commonly used Trimble products and GIS. Updated and currently in use by the US Department of Transportation.
ArcGIS and Archaeology - the online product of my research in the arctic; it is a collection of information about geographic information systems (GIS) as well as tutorials for archaeological uses of GIS not covered elsewhere.
