Research Interests

In no particular order, my central interests as seen in my publications, research writings, and media appearances include: political economy theory; landscapes; alienation (as a historical-material phenomenon and process); the capitalist mode of production (and Black Capitalism--importantly, via the work of Manning Marable); Diasporas and exile; marronage, Maroon communities, and the (so-called) Underground Railroad; labor and commodities; defiance and resistance; animal emancipation/rights and archaeology; Marxian-existentialist perspectives; community systems and structure; hobos, the Great Depression, and social transience; politics of archaeological resource stewardship; capitalist transformations/transitions; archaeological research modeling and some methods areas (e.g., excavation, survey, and certain modes of data recordation); home and homelessness; race/racism/racialization; the nature of the archaeological record; the archaeologist’s experience; and, historical archaeology as social justice and world-transformational praxis.

My main American University research Projects since 2009 include:

• The Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study (multiple archaeological sites focusing on ca. 1607-1863 Black Maroon and Indigenous American resistance communities that thrived across the huge Great Dismal Swamp of NC and VA).
• The Great Depression Undocumented Labor Project (Archaeological work at the Wye Trestle site in Delta, PA with focus on the undocumented hobo community that was “settled” just past the edge of town in the 1890-1940 era)
•  I am currently developing two new projects at AU that will center on animal beings from species other than our own, and, our less-than-admirable treatment of those beings. One is a book-focused research project called Roadkilling: Dispatches from the Animal Emancipation Front which will offer a critical anthropological exploration of inhumane road violence (Roadkill) against beings from species other than our own. The other project is called the Archaeology, Speciesism, and Human Entitlement Study (ASHES), a long-term umbrella study through which I focus on human and other animal social relations at typical and not-so-typical archaeological sites in the wider Baltimore-DC area.

I have been doing archaeology as a professional for over 25 years now, and I excavated my first soils as an archaeology student some 30+ years ago. I have worked at ancient precontact sites and historical (post-1600) sites across the U.S., including sites in Idaho, Montana, Utah, Tennessee, Colorado, and in Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states. My experiences as a participant in these many academic, Cultural Resource Management, and museum-based projects include various modes of archaeological survey, architectural and site recordation, all phases of excavation, laboratory analysis (with especial knowledge of ceramics and other artifact classes of the 1780-1940 era), archival and related documentary research, and public/community engagement in support of archaeological work and to the benefit those communities. So, I do not “just do theory”, “just the digging”,  or “just the artifacts”. Rather, I approach the work of this profession as a complex whole that must include theory, methods, and materials—-and thoughtful, effective social praxis and self-critique. I also know that money is required for doing archaeological work and to that end I have received over $275,000 in external grant support for my projects to date. I am also trained and published as a historian and as a creative writer (e.g., short-story fiction).

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

WMU Distinguished Anthropology Alumnus; William and Mary Disctinguished Doctoral Dissertation in Social Sciences; Keynote at Great Dismal Swamp NPS Network To Freedom Ceremony      

Media Appearances

Recent Appearances

February 2022

    The Underground Railroad, episode 3 in 4-part series on Discovery Science Channel; appeared as archaeology expert in Dismal Swamp segment.

December 2020

    “The Great Dismal Swamp was a Refuge for Escaped Slaves. A Congressman Wants to Revive its Forgotten History”, The Virginian-Pilot.

https://www.pilotonline.com/government/nation/vp-nw-dismal-swamp-20201222-tzxbzguz4rat7piu2okbel2uou-story.html

November 2020

    Enslaved People on the Run: The Great Dismal Swamp. Constant Wonder, Brigham Young University Radio, Podcast interview.

https://www.byuradio.org/episode/97bf80aa-b7e9-497f-87f4-4f0849cca578/constant-wonder-enslaved-people-on-the-run

October 2020

    What on Earth?, Discovery Science Channel, Dismal Swamp Archaeology segment (original air date 10/22/2020

Films/Documentaries

2018

Escape to the Great Dismal Swamp, Smithsonian Channel

https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/escape-to-the-great-dismal-swamp/0/3456593