Virtual Rosewood

Counter-Mapping Protests

Kingsley Plantation and 3D GIS

Research - scroll down for project links

I like to ask questions about how we experience, document, interpret, and communicate human action in the world. Recently, this involves developing ways of combating the de-politicizing nature of academic life.

As an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas I dabled in three of the four subfields of anthropology, sharing my time and interests between cultural, biological, and archaeological anthropology. I spent 13 months in New Zealand between 2002 and 2003 completing a year-long study on public archaeology and collaborative technology. This project allowed me to gain first-hand, detailed knowledge of global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS) as they pertained to the documentation, interpretation, and web-based publication of archaeological data. I also began looking at evangelical Buddhist groups and conducted a two-year investigation comparing this religious movement in New Zealand and the United States. Finally, I served at the Assistant-to-the-Editor for the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA).

Then, as a masters student at Michigan Technological University, I continued my archaeological research and expanded this understanding to include the ethical responsibilities of archaeologists to their data. I was fortunate to join an international team of researchers in the high arctic islands of Spitzbergen as my case study. I believe that most anthropologists (e.g., archaeologists, socio/cultural anthropologists) do a poor job of documenting and formatting their data in a way that remains usable by others, and, perhaps more importantly, accessible by the public. One of the central tenets of my MS was that our obiligation to data is at the heart of ethical debates, particularly for those subdisciplines of anthropology who do not routinely warehouse their data as part of the publication process (e.g., archaeology, social/cultural).

I have steadily expanded my academic and personal interests since arriving at the University of Florida in 2005 as a PhD student in anthropology. This includes an interest in engaged anthropology, visual sociology, and reparations activism. My PhD proejct draws together many of these interests by examining the historical legacy of structural violence which continues to disadvantage large segments of the US popluation. I earned a second MA in anthropology at UF based on preliminary work with the site of Rosewood, Fl.

Please, have a look at some of my current and ongoing research below.

Engaged Visual Anthropology:

I have recently begun exploring the use of 3D technologies and new media to participate in a form of engaged anthropology challenging color-blind, meritocratic views embedded within US society.

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 diaglogue 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. (updated regularly)

Pirate Philosophy, Counter-Mapping, and Post-Racial Protest - a project I conducted throughout 2007 about the use of new media technologies to document and promote anti-war protests. This project has now grown to include a much wider audience and subject matter. I'll be preseting on this topic at the 2009 AAA meetings in Philadelphia! (will update after AAA meetings)

WWII Japanese Internment Camps - I've just begun this project. However, I hope to do with these sites the same sort of project that I am currently working on in relation to Rosewood, Florida. (scheduled for future updating)

Learn to Counter-Map - a PowerPoint file and brief introduction to the philosophy and tools to map the world around you. This small site details the many ways in which individuals can begin making use of free software and data to construct maps (like the ones you see on this site!).

Archaeology and (3D) GIS:

Kingsley Plantation & GIS - the internet version of a poster I presented at the 2007 SHA meetings with my wife, Diana Gonzalez-Tennant. It explores the uses of GIS to manage, analyze, and publish archaeological data from this important site. (no longer updated)

Chinese Diaspora Emigrant Areas Locator (CDEAL) GIS - an ongoing project collecting to collect spatial data for creating a diasporic archaeology of Chinese communities worldwide. (sporadically updated)

Lawrence Chinese Camp, NZ - a 3D model of this important site as it existed in the late 1800s. (rarely updated)

GPS & GIS in New Zealand Historical Archaeology - the web version of my undergraduate thesis. Also, the basis for a 2009 Historical Archaeology article. (no longer updated)

GIS and Arctic Archaeology - the web version of my masters degree from Michigan Technological University exploring new data formats to meet the ethical obligation of archaeologists towards their datasets. (no longer updated)

How-To Guides/Manuals

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. (no longer updated)

ArcGIS and Archaeology - the online product of my masters research; it is a collection of information about geographic information systems (GIS) as well as tutorials for archaeological uses of GIS that is not often covered elsewhere. (rarely updated)

Learn to Counter-Map - a PowerPoint file and brief introduction to the philosophy and tools to map the world around you. This small site details the many ways in which individuals can begin making use of free software and data to construct maps (like the ones you see on this site!).