Ken Batai
kbatai1@uic.edu

2000 B.A. Southern Illinois University at
Carbondale
2003 M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Physical Anthropology and Bioarchaeology, Ancient DNA; Peru
 

My primary interests are ancient DNA analysis and Andean archaeology. I am also interested in studying genetic variation in modern populations to understand demographic and population history. Currently, I have several projects. The first is a study of ancient DNA from Peru. Another project involves analyses of published mtDNA data of modern populations, using population genetics software programs as well as other software to reconstruct the phylogeny of mtDNA. I am also performing computer analyses of DNA data from Africa. (10/05)

John Beaver
BeaverJ@nmaicrc.si.edu

Archaeology, Native American Studies; North America

Tarini Bedi
tbedi1@uic.edu

B.A. 1995 (Social Science and Theater) Bennington College
M.A. 1998 (Political Science) McGill University
M.A. 2004 (Anthropology) University of Illinois at Chicago

Cultural Anthropology, Religious Nationalism, Class Formation, Gender & Globalization; South Asia

Paul Bick
pbick2@uic.edu

2005 M.A. NorthEastern University (Linguistics)

Haiti, Rethinking Community based Conservation

Zachary Blair
zblair2@uic.edu

2005 B.A. University of Central Florida
2006 M.A. (Liberal Studies-Race, Gender, and Sexuality) University of Missouri - Kansas City

Cultural Anthropology, Urban Anthropology, Environmental Anthropology, Queer Communities and Culture, Race and Gender; North America (United States)

Jeff Buechler
jbuech1@uic.edu

1995 B.S. (Environmental Engineering) California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo
2003 M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology, Ethnicity and Architectural Style and Socio-Political Relationships, Ancient Population Movements, Ethnic Identity and Relations, Mayan Hieroglyphic Texts and Ancient Maya culture, Complex societies; Mesoamerica/Maya region, Changing water into wine

Gabriel Cantarutti
gcanta2@uic.edu

B.A. University of Chile

Archaeology; South America

Sofia Chacaltana-Cortez
schaca1@uic.edu

2006 M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology; Peru

I am interested in the strategies imperial or complex societies use for expansion and incorporation of new territories. Also, I am looking at how less complex societies and local populations were transformed by new imperial institutions. For my dissertation, I am looking at the characteristics of the Inka empire in the far southern part of Peru and northern Chile, an area known as the Colesuyo.

My research focuses on Inka tampus (waystations), imperial institutions that were systematically built along the extensive roads networks of the Empire. Tampus were Inka facilities that had the primary functions of providing foodstuffs and lodging to state travelers and supporting the local personnel. However, tampus filled other functions that were based on the political and economic interests of powerful polities, and the needs of local people and the environment. Therefore, through the investigation of tampus in the Colesuyo, I seek to understand the Inka strategies of incorporation for this marginalized region of the southern Andes.

Chris Davis
cdavis14@uic.edu

1998 B.A. (Chemistry) Dartmouth College
2003 M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology, Prehistoric Religion and Folklore, Paleoenvironment; Caribbean

Stephen Davis
sdavis8@uic.edu

2001 M.A. (Geography) University of Illinois at Chicago
2007 M.A. (Anthropology) University of Illinois at Chicago

Anthropology and Geography, Latino Migration and Urban Enclaves, Globalization; Latin America

Rebecca Deeb
rdeeb2@uic.edu

2002 B.A. Oberlin College

Archaeology, Gender, Landscape, Museum Studies; Mesoamerica

Rory Dennison
rdenni2@uic.edu

B.A. Minnesota State University - Moorehead

Archaeology; China

Shannon Freeman
sfreem2@uic.edu

1996 B.A. (Anthropology and English) Auburn University
2001 M.A. (Anthropology) University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology & GIS, LA-ICPMS Mass Spectrometry; Southeastern United States

Mark Golitko
mgolit1@uic.edu

1999 B.S. (History) University of Wisconsin at Madison
2002 M.A. (Anthropology) University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology and Archaeometry, Belgian Initial Neolithic (Linearbandkeramik Culture)

My research focuses on early Neolithic villages in Belgium of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture. I am studying the movement of ceramics between villages in the region and beyond using archaeometrical techniques, principally inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This is part of a larger project under the direction of Dr. Lawrence H. Keeley in collaboration with archaeologists at the Institut Royal de Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (IRSNB) in Brussels aimed at further understanding the relationship between warfare, trade/exchange, and alliance building on the frontier of agricultural expansion ca. 5200 BC. (9/05)

Ruth Gomberg
rgombe1@uic.edu

1999 B.A. (Spanish) University of Illinois at Chicago
2006 M.A. (Anthropology) University of Illinois at Chicago

Cultural Anthropology, Urban Ethnography

My doctoral dissertation is an examination of the social strategies that Mexican immigrants use to navigate the terrain of work and society in the United States. This ethnographic project focuses on the agency of immigrant workers in overcoming challenges and establishing themselves as workers and members of households and communities in the U.S.  My dissertation will provide a micro-level look at how a cohort of Mexican immigrant workers in Chicago create and use social networks, attain resources, combat economic insecurity, nurture dignity and self-esteem, and promote norms that cultivate and help sustain markets for their labor.  This study will complement existing research which has focused on the structural conditions that encumber immigrants, by showing how immigrants themselves react and adapt to these conditions.

Deb Green
dgreen10@uic.edu

My doctoral research is focused on reconstructing the geomorphology and paleoenvironmental conditions during the rise of chiefdom-level societies in the Tanjay region of Negros, Oriental Philippines. I am specifically interested in land clearance practices associated with swidden fsarming and how these activities may have contributed to environmental change. The results of project will then be used to address current models on the evolution of chiefdoms. (10/05)

Deirdre Guthrie
dguthr1@uic.edu

B.A. (with Honors in Community Studies) University of California at Santa Cruz
M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Cultural Anthropology, Gender, Tourism, Transnational Studies; Dominican Republic

Jacqueline Jackson

Caleb Kestle
ckestl1@uic.edu

2004 B.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology; Mesoamerica

Nam Kim
nkim3@uic.edu

B.A. (International Relations) University of Pennsylvania
M.A. (Political Science) New York University
M.A. (Anthropology) University of Illinois at Chicago

Cultural Anthropology, Warfare and Social Evolution, with emphasis on Metal Age Societies in Vietnam

This proposed project seeks to examine the underpinnings of social complexity and political centralization in the Bac Bo region of Metal Age Vietnam. To be evaluated is the relationship between warfare and the emergence of complex polities defined anthropologically as chiefdoms and states. Through archaeological fieldwork, data will be collected to identify the embryonic conditions present when small-scale, acephalous, and egalitarian communities became subsumed within larger, more complex polities. In collaboration with Vietnamese archaeologists, preliminary survey, test excavation, and artifact analysis will be conducted at the site of Co Loa, a fortified, proto-urban citadel in the Red River Valley near Hanoi. In reconstructing the chronological history for Co Loa’s fortifications, the project seeks to determine if political centralization in the Bac Bo region preceded its colonization by the Chinese Imperial Han at 111 BC. Project results will have broad implications for both state formation theory and debates surrounding the origins of Vietnamese civilization, and will also build a foundation for future collaboration between Vietnamese and American researchers.

Megan Klein
mklein5@uic.edu

2001 B.A. (Spanish) University of Iowa
2001 B.B.A. (Management & Organizations) University of Iowa
2004 M.A. (Spanish Literature) Loyola University of Chicago

Cultural Anthropology, Gender, Globalization, Immigration, Labor; Aymará communities in South America (Bolivia)

Patrick Knight
pknigh1@uic.edu

2001 B.A. (Mass Communications) St. Xavier University
2004 M.A. (Anthropology) University of Illinois at Chicago

Cultural Anthropology, Media Anthropology, Cyberspace,
Tourism, Slavoj Žižek's Notion of Ideological Fantasy, Psychoanalytical
Methodology; Ireland.

Paul Lakosky
plakos1@uic.edu

1990 B.A. University of Minnesota
2004 M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Cultural Anthropology, Social Organization, Medical Anthropology, Globalization and Public Health, Contexts of Uncertainty, Risk Theory, HIV/AIDS.

Alex Markovic
amarko2@uic.edu

2006 B.A. University of Illinois at Chicago
2007 M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Cultural Anthropology (Ethnography & Ethnohistory), Culture and Identity; Balkans

My research focuses on the construction and negotiation of ethnic identity of the Roma in southeastern Serbia. I specifically focus on the inter-ethnic interactions between non-Rom celebrants and Romani musicians in the context of the performing of music, and how music becomes a site of ritualized performance and the negotiation of Romani ethnic identity. My work also hopes to understand how global, political, and economic forces are impacting the performance of identity and the construction of ethnicity by the Rom with respect to music and musical performance.

Jim Meierhoff
jmeier3@uic.edu

2004 B.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology, Mayan Hieroglyphs; Mesoamerica

Lisa Niziolek
lnizio1@uic.edu

1996 B.A. University of Chicago
2003 M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology, Ceramics, Craft Specialization, Chiefdoms, Ethnoarchaeology; Philippines and Ireland

I am interested in examining production and exchange relationships in pre-state societies through ceramic analysis, in areas including the prehispanic Philippines and Neolithic Ireland.
The goal of my dissertation project is to provide a better understanding of earthenware production in the prehispanic Philippine chiefdom of Tanjay through chemical analysis of pottery and clay. The project also includes ethnoarchaeological observations of living potters, ethnohistoric research of pottery production through Spanish and Chinese records, analysis of ethnographic and archaeological museum artifacts associated with pottery production and use, and analysis of photographs of traditional pottery production in the Philippines. (2/06)

Sara Pfannkuche
spfann1@uic.edu

B.A. Michigan State University

Archaeology, Geoarchaeology and Settlement Patterns; North America

My dissertation area is the Pecatonica River Valley in Northern Illinois. My research interest is learning about how people used river valleys:  what landforms were used by prehistoric and historic peoples within the river valley and how did that preference change through time? Also, did this change in landform utilization affect subsistence or settlement patterns? Lastly, I'm interested in comparing settlement patterns along large river systems (such as the Mississippi) to patterns along small river systems (Pecatonica) to see whether they are comparable.

Russ S. Quick
rquick2@uic.edu

1997 B.A. Anthropology (M.C.L.), Appalachian State University
1997 B.A. History (M.C.L.), Appalachian State University
2001 M.A. Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology, GIS; Belgium

Evin Rodkey
erodke2@uic.edu

1999 B.A. (Psychology) Indiana University-Bloomington

Cultural Anthropology

Matt Schauer
mschau5@uic.edu

2004 B.A. (History) University of Minnesota
2007 M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Nicola Sharratt
nsharr2@uic.edu

2004 B.A. University of Cambridge
2007 M.A. Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology, Gender; South America (Andes)

Larissa Smith
lmsmith4@uic.edu

B.A. University of Arizona

Socio-cultural Anthropology, Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, Cross-Cultural Religious Similarities; Prehistories of Pacific, East African, and Native North American Cultures

Andrew Wyatt
awyatt1@uic.edu

1989 B.A. Antioch College
1999 M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago

Archaeology, Paleoethnobotany; Mesoamerica (Belize)

I am studying archaeology and archaeobotany in the Maya region, reconstructing Classic Maya agricultural practices through the excavation and analysis of ancient plant remains. My dissertation will focus on how the Maya were able to develop a complex, state level society in an area traditionally considered inhospitable to large scale agriculture. Previously, I joined a multi-disciplinary project at Motul de San Jose in the Peten rainforest of Guatemala, studying economic interaction in the Maya Lowlands during the Classic Period (A.D. 250-A.D. 900). 

Erin Antalis
eantal2@uic.edu

B.A. Florida State University

Cultural Anthropology; South America

Kaelyn Dillard
kdilla2@uic.edu

B.A. (Anthropology and Psychology) Tulane University

Archaeology, Andes

John Hicks
jhicks5@uic.edu

B.A. Ohio University HTC 2007

Anthropology Major with Minors/certificates in Spanish, GIS and Environmental Studies

Erin Rice
erice1@uic.edu

B.A. University of Michigan

Archaeology; North America, Europe

John F Michels
jmiche7@uic.edu

1999 B.S. University of Wisconsin at La Crosse

2002 M.Ed. University of Wisconsin at La Crosse

Cultural anthropology, Canada

Matthew Piscitelli
mpisci2@uic.edu

Household Archaeology, Preceramic Peru, Cultural Ecology, Ancient Warfare, Evolution of Complex Society

Luisa J. Rollins
lrolli2@uic.edu

B.S. in Economics University of Central Florida

M.A. in International Business University of Florida

Cultural and Ecological Anthropology, Tourism, Environment, Ethnobotany and Gender, Latin America

Mark Sanders
msande8@uic.edu

B.S. The National College of Chiropractic
M.P.H. University of Illinois at Chicago
M.B.A. Keller Graduate School of Management
J.D. John Marshall Law School

Environmental Geography, GIS, Ecological Geography

Neslihan Sen
nsen2@uic.edu

B.A. Bogazici University
M.A. Istanbul University

Cultural Anthropology; Middle East

Jennifer Starbird
jstarb2@uic.edu

2001 B.A. Lake Forest College

Archaeology, Artifact Conservation; Mesoamerica

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