Anthropologist in Exile: Navigating Loss and Pursuing Justice

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Bringing the Past to Life, Part 2: Papers in Honor of John M. D. Pohl" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Making space for us to love archaeology in its prismatic wholeness is John Pohl’s greatest contribution to the field. We first met when I was an undergraduate taking his course on precolumbian art and archaeology of Mexico. He was my only college professor who encouraged me to connect archaeology with my own family history, and who created academic opportunities for me to interrogate how and why such a project mattered today. He supported my applications to graduate school and offered solidarity as I witnessed and endured gendered violence, racism, betrayal, apathy, complicity, and injustice while pursuing my PhD. Although I earned my degree, I honored my trauma and left after graduation to become a lawyer. For the past 17 years, Professor Pohl has been a consistent presence in my memory when I recall what I love most about anthropological archaeology. This paper is in honor of those of us who will always be anthropologists, but who love and engage with anthropology from afar: as anthropologists in exile, pursuing justice within the profession as only the forgotten can.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Bringing the Past to Life, Part 2: Papers in Honor of John M. D. Pohl   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39471.0