Area of Interest:

Historical archaeology, Eastern North America, European colonialism; post-colonial theory, identity; ethnicity; foodways; household archaeology; exploratory data analysis; ceramic analysis

Education:

BA in Anthropology (2001), City University of New York, Queens College

Research & Activities:

Entered the program in 2002.

In my research, I examine changing culture and identities among Native Americans in the historic Southeast. I focus specifically on the mid eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century (ca. 1760-1820), examining how Catawba Indians in the South Carolina backcountry responded to British colonialism and American nationalism.  I am particularly interested in how strategic engagement with European settlers enabled the Catawba to maintain considerable autonomy and construct a distinctive, non-western identity amid a society that was increasingly hostile towards people of color.