Thesis research. My research is based in an ethnographic analysis of archaeological practice. I currently work in the Andes - specifically Bolivia, Chile and Peru. I am interested in the production of knowledge through research communities that include both (local and foreign) archaeologists and indigenous peoples. Attention to both the production and the consumption of narratives about the past is central to my research. I am also interested in non-academic ('pop-culture'/'alternative') conceptions of the past and time. My committee in Chicago include Shannon Dawdy, Alan Kolata, Maria Cecila Lozada, and Jessica Cattelino.
Recent activities. I am currently in residence in Chicago, preparing for my exams and my proposal hearing with the intention of beginning my field work in 2008. In Summer 2007 I spent seven weeks visiting projects in Chile, Bolivia and Peru to gather feedback and information to prepare for writing my PhD proposals in 2007-8. Projects visited included the Proyecto Wanduy Cuartel (directed by Alex Herrera, Universidad de los Andes); the Tarapacá Valley Archaeological Project (directed by Maria Cecila Lozada, University of Chicago, Ran Boytner, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and Ioanna Kakoulli, MSE & Cotsen Institute of Archaeology); and the Proyecto Jach'a Marka (directed by Nicole Couture, McGill, Deborah Blom, University of Vermont and Maria Bruno, Washington University). This trip was financed by a Field Research Grant from the Centre for Latin American Studies at the University of Chicago.
Museums. From 2005-7 I was involved in the Science outreach program MSCOPE. Organised by the University of Chicago, Scitech and Museum of Science and Industry, MSCOPE teaches graduate students how to present science in science museums. Students are trained in and participate in the presentation of scientific knowledge to a broad public. As an intern on this project I was involved with creating museum exhibits and demos from the earliest 'ideas' stage, through evaluations, prototyping, audience reactions, and building, with a team of graduate students from both the social and physical sciences.
The experience in the MSCOPE program has been critical in shaping my approach to archaeological museums. My MA dissertation, "Creating The Inca: Contextualising the construction of archaeological objects and narratives in museums", compares and critiques the presentation of archaeological narratives in seven museums, using the Inca as a point of shared reference. The museums studied are: The Peabody at Yale, The Museo de América in Madrid, The Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú in Lima, and in Cusco The Museo de Arte Precolombian, The Museo Inca, the Museo del Sitio del Qoricancha and the Museo Histórico Regional.
Death and archaeological bodies. Research originally undertaken for my undergrad dissertation focussed on the conception of archaeological human remains by practising archaeologists. I have presented a number of papers at seminars in Cambridge and at the EAA in 2003, and am currently reworking this research, looking at two areas: the objectification and personification of human remains by British archaeologists, and the concept of 'respect for the dead'.
Representations of the past. I am currently preparing a paper entitled "Aliens, Time Travel and Choose Your Own Adventure novels: No-one else will ever be post-modern", to be presented at TAG-NY in May 2008.