Pursue Indigenous community archaeology paradigms towards affirming and continuing cultural identities, the village of Quinhagak.

What are the effects of archaeology on sociocultural issues in Indigenous communities?  The problem of anthropology and archaeology as a whole is that it is inherently and structurally colonialist in its execution and in its product.  Although post-processionalist and post-modernist perspectives have attempted to change the narrative and the power dynamic involved, what does this mean within Indigenous community?  How have these communities used this research towards affirming their identities and supporting cultural continuance and revival? How do we make the research accessible to communities and how are they using this research?  What parts of Indigenous archaeology work well in communities and what can be replicated elsewhere? I am very much interested in community archaeology, decolonizing methodologies, and Indigenous research paradigms specifically as they can relate to community building and working towards cultural preservation.
 
These questions represent many of my research interests and will hopefully lead towards an interesting and theoretically significant dissertation.  As such, I am in the beginning stages of this process and will be developing reading lists in the near future and over the summer. Parts of my research will continue in Quinhagak, and I will travel there this summer. I will work with some of the elders there and other community members involved in the Nunalleq archaeological project.