Research Areas

The research interests of our faculty span the three subfields of Anthropology: Anthropological Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology, and Biological Anthropology. Learn more about our approach to research and see our latest research publications and research news on our Research overview page.

Anthropological archaeology

Active faculty research projects in this subfield focus on topics including zooarchaeological approaches to foodways and human-environment interactions in eastern Africa and the western Indian Ocean (Quintana Morales), village life and climate change in Neolithic Turkey (Biehl), West African urban and rural transformations in the era of the slave trade (Monroe), Indigenous persistence and survivance in Colonial California (Schneider), architecture and political sovereignty in Haiti after the Haitian Revolution (Monroe), local resistance and transformation of Inka and Spanish colonialism in the Central Andes (Hernandez Garavito), and cultural heritage law and indigenous protocol in the Pacific Northwest (Daehnke).

Peter F Biehl

Title
- Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies
Campus Email
- pbiehl@ucsc.edu

Jon D Daehnke

Title
- Associate Professor
Campus Email
- jdaehnke@ucsc.edu
Website
- Academia.edu
- Chinook Resilience

Carla Hernandez Garavito

Title
- Assistant Professor
Campus Email
- chern133@ucsc.edu
Website
- Academia.edu

James Monroe

Title
- Professor
Campus Email
- jcmonroe@ucsc.edu
Website
- Published papers and other materials on Academia.edu
- Personal Webpage

Erendira Quintana Morales

Title
- Assistant Professor
Campus Email
- equinta6@ucsc.edu
Website
- Research Profile

Tsim D Schneider

Title
- Associate Professor
Campus Email
- tdschnei@ucsc.edu
Website
- Academia.edu
- Laboratory for the Study of California Pasts

Biological anthropology

Biological anthropology stands as a unique link between the social and biological sciences. At UCSC, we focus on ancient human and animal populations (bioarchaeology) and living primates (primatology). Ourresearch interests and areas of expertise include human biology, population biology, and molecular evolution primarily working with ancient DNA (Fehren-Schmitz), the study of African great apes and the dietary ecology and mobility of past human and animal populations using isotope biogeochemistry (Oelze), as well as the evolution of lithic technology, human culture, and human-environment interactions (Reti).

Vicky M Oelze

Title
- Associate Professor
Campus Email
- voelze@ucsc.edu
Website
- Primate Ecology and Molecular Anthropology (PEMA) Lab website

Lars Fehren-Schmitz

Title
- Professor
Campus Email
- lfehrens@ucsc.edu
Website
- UCSC Human Paleogenomics Lab

Jay Reti

Title
- Assistant Teaching Professor
Campus Email
- jreti@ucsc.edu

Cultural anthropology

Our research in this area has covered topics including traditional healing and biotechnology in China (Chen), practices of charity and philanthropy (Caldwell), identity politics in Honduras (Anderson), Muslim ethical and political engagement in France (Fernando), geopolitics and medicine in the borderlands between Yemen and Saudi Arabia (Hauter) fermentation practices in the Eastern Himalayas (Kikon), the role of Muslim seafarers from western India in global shipping (Mahajan), lessons about the Anthropocene from Mediterranean forests (Mathews), intersections of disability and chronic illness with gender and race (Moodie), Native American feminism (Ramirez), blackness and anti blackness in American education (Shange Binion), and the relationship between humans and mushrooms (Tsing).