My research examines the social construction of difference and hierarchy, and thus political authority, through both ethnohistoric (utilizing 16th century Spanish and indigenous authored documents) and archaeological research. My ethnohistoric research analyzes the native conceptualization of hierarchy based in the principle of encompassing or subsuming the identities of subordinates, in effect making such subordinates aspects of a superior agent’s identity (rather than authors of their own lives and identities). This in turn allows for an archaeological consideration of the materiality of identity and personhood, their intersubjective constitution, and how material artifacts both constitute and are made meaningful by the practices of social actors. By such investigations, I seek to understand how political authority was emically defined, understood, and enacted in the Tarascan State, allowing for potential cross-cultural comparisons of how political regimes and actors aimed to redefine social relations in their favor.

PHD, ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA (2008)

MA, ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA (2003)

BA, ANTHROPOLOGY, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, SUMMA CUM LAUDE (2000)

Teaching Assistant, August 2001 – May 2004.
Six semesters of experience as a teaching assistant in the Department of Anthropology. Three semesters of experience developing course syllabi, teaching discussion courses, designing lesson plans, preparing study guides and exams, and grading and keeping records of grades. Duties the remainder of the six semesters included preparing study guides and exams, leading review sessions and assisting students, and grading and keeping records of grades. Courses taught include Maya and Aztec Civilization, Development of World Civilization, and Introduction to Archaeology.

University of Illinois, Champaign, IL
Teaching Assistant, August 2000 – May 2001.
Two semesters of experience as a teaching assistant in the Department of Anthropology. Courses taught include World Archaeology and Aztec Civilization.

Erongarícuaro, Michoacán, Mexico Co-Principal Investigator and Field Director of the 2005 field season of the project “Investigating the Expansion and Consolidation of the Tarascan State: Proposal for Fieldwork at Erongarícuaro, Michoacán, Mexico.”

Artifact Analysis, 2006

Artifact Analysis, 2003.

Survey and Excavation, 2001.

Dissertation Fieldwork Grant awarded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research in April 2005, for sourcing and dating of artifacts recovered during fieldwork at Erongarícuaro, Michoacán, Mexico, during the 2005 field season.

General Research Grant awarded in December, 2004 by the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI) for project “Investigating the Expansion and Consolidation of the Tarascan State: Proposal for Fieldwork at Erongarícuaro, Michoacán, Mexico,” summer of 2005.

Polly and Paul Doughty Research Award, Summer 2003, presented by the Department of Anthropology of the University of Florida.

Introductory Level Undergraduate Courses: Introduction to Archaeology, World Archaeology/Civilization, General Anthropology

Intermediate Undergraduate Courses: Mesoamerican Archaeology, Maya and Aztec Civilizations, New World Prehistory

Upper Level Undergraduate/Graduate Courses: Archaeological Theory, Anthropological Theory, Seminar on State Formation, Seminar on the Relation Between Archaeology and Ethnohistory (or a separate course on ethnohistory and the analysis of documentary evidence), and a Seminar on Materiality, Agency, and Archaeological Interpretation