November 2021

I was in the fifth grade when I first decided to become an anthropologist.  When I was a kid, I discovered a Native American burial ground in Canada.  This was a unique opportunity to work with local Indigenous community leaders and government agencies.  This early experience was a formative one that ultimately shaped my life’s path.    

My current research agenda is grounded in an ongoing collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a major antiquities case that resulted in the recovery of several thousand objects. My work with the FBI Art Crime Team exemplifies my broad scholarship on cultural heritage, the antiquities trade, looting, and repatriation with Indigenous partners worldwide. 

I am a Public Scholar who forges connections and fosters lasting community partnerships that bring about greater cultural understanding and social change on a local and global scale. I primarily work with and for Indigenous communities and, as a teacher, I bring critical human rights issues into my classroom and community-based scholarship. My community-based teaching, research, and civically engaged service activities directly align with IUPUI’s vision of contributing to the “well-being of the citizens of Indianapolis, the state of Indiana, and beyond.” I am an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Museum Studies in the IU School of Liberal Arts with an appointment in the Native American & Indigenous Studies Program whose work is deeply grounded in social justice.

The thing I love most about my research are the opportunities for community collaboration and involving my students in these unique partnerships.  Through these experiences, my students learn first-hand that there is a significant time investment in cultivating and maintaining relationships with community stakeholders.

As an IUPUI Public Scholar, my teaching activities are grounded within and across research and service. I pride myself on offering my students an active, community-student-centered curriculum. I work to create opportunities that allow them to become self-reflective and engaged leaders through experiences both in and out of the classroom.  A unique and ongoing teaching opportunity involves my students’ active involvement with a Federal Bureau of Investigation Antiquities Case (Art Crime Team). Since April of 2014, dozens of undergraduate and graduate students have assisted on the case, conducting research and participating in repatriation efforts to foreign and domestic partners. In spite of immense obstacles (students sign non-disclosure agreements in order to participate in the investigation), this learning experience is unparalleled.  

The kind of research I do involves community members as partners in the co-production of knowledge.   

There is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to educating the general public about the need for better protection of cultural heritage, sacred sites and graves.  Academicians need to seek new, equitable ways to engage community partners in all phases of research.