Setting the stage for empowered collaboration through inclusive pedagogy and team building
Abstract: In this talk we will explore ways to build inclusive communities in archaeological field settings. Engaging in equitable collaborative work is impossible without setting the stage for all members of research teams to contribute equally to project directions and outcomes. We argue that modeling team building is thus a critical element of inclusive and anti-racist archaeological pedagogy.
Bio: Kristina Douglass is an archaeologist who investigates how people, land- and seascapes co-evolve. She is an Associate Professor of Climate at Columbia University and a Smithsonian Institution Research Associate. Her work is grounded in collaborations with local, Indigenous, and descendant (LID) communities as equal partners in the co-production of science, and the recording, preservation and dissemination of LID knowledge. Douglass and her collaborators aim to contribute long-term perspectives on human-environment interactions to public debates, planning and policymaking on the issues of climate change, conservation, and sustainability. Since 2011 Douglass has directed the Morombe Archaeological Project (MAP), based in the Velondriake Marine Protected Area and Commune de Befandefa in southwest Madagascar. This territory is home to diverse communities, including Vezo fishers, Mikea foragers and Masikoro herders. The MAP team is made up of local community members, and an international group of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. The MAP is anchored to the Olo Be Taloha Lab (@OBTLab) housed at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. Douglass is a mother, singer, dancer, Capoeirista, SCUBA diver and avid gardener, all of which intersect in essential ways with her work as an archaeologist and climate scientist. More information
