MA in Anthropology

Meg Hardie, 2022

Describe your dissertation, thesis, or capstone (if you completed one):

Scholars have worked towards active decolonization of anthropology as a field and bioarchaeology as a discipline, employing activist frameworks to prevent future harms on marginalized communities. Feminist, queer, and Indigenous theories contribute to research models in hybridized bioarchaeological projects that consider stress, identity, relation, embodiment, and colonization within Indigenous contexts. To formulate a culmination of these myriad theories and methods, the framework of Indigenous-life-history is proposed. This approach to bioarchaeology acknowledges the field’s history while performing research within topical boundaries of informed, involved descendant communities. Indigenous-life-history prioritizes the performance of bioarchaeology with respect towards Ancestors and their relations, whether through research projects or the efforts of repatriation. Through this framework, it is hoped bioarchaeology can narrate more informative histories and create new activist legacies.

How did you choose your specific area of study?

From medicolegal work or academic research, I have pivoted towards explicitly activist and applied anthropology. My involvement with social causes, volunteer organizations, and activist movements during 2020 have ossified my dedication to destabilizing abusive systems and improving anthropological practices to serve marginalized groups experiencing structural violence, especially Indigenous communities in North America. I am more strongly motivated to fulfill this pursuit than I am to seek academic or research positions. Although my trajectory is untraditional for a graduate student, I still value institutional programs as they can be employed to assist and serve these communities through educating generations of applied, activist scholars and promoting research that works to reverse harms previously committed by academic systems. I am still passionate about educating inside and outside of the university environment, as teaching is a primary mechanism of orchestrating greater social transformation. I also strongly believe in publishing my research, writing critical studies, and using vehicles of scientific communication to promote methods of study that lead to institutional – more broadly, systemic – change.

How did your academic experiences in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences impact you?

My time in the Department of Anthropology has provided me with more experience and opportunity than I could have anticipated. I was offered roles to co-teach, function as an adjunct professor, and participate in seminars that have broadened my expertise across my research foci. I've been introduced to a huge range of publications, scholars, and mentors who have helped direct my trajectory in this career.

Of which accomplishment(s) during your time at Mason are you most proud?

I've been fortunate to receive support and dedicate my second year to a thesis that I am proud to share with my mentors, colleagues, and the discipline more broadly. It is a work of intensive labor and passion that I hope will benefit its audience, whatever their background or familiarity with the scholarship the project is built upon. My aspiration is to use the framework I've developed in my thesis to continue research in ethical ways, implementing this model as a standard in whatever institution I move to next.

Are there faculty or staff members who made a difference during your Mason career?

I want to thank PhD Daniel Temple, PhD Rick Smith, and PhD Haagen Klaus not only for serving on my committee, but also for providing me with support, advice, motivation, and opportunities I would never have believed possible two years ago. They have each been paramount to my learning, and I could rely on them for genuine feedback and encouragement. Their guidance has meant so much in the completion of this project and my professional growth. Special gratitude to PhD Daniel Temple for reading this entire thesis twice – I warned you, and I’m sorry.

What advice would you give to an incoming cohort of graduate students?

Find your mentors. I am adamant about this. Whether they are your advisor, a professor who teaches your favorite course, or even someone outside of your degree department, it is essential to have support from someone with experience, references, and resources they can help direct you with. This is also someone who you can trust to be conscious of the demands that come with being a graduate student, someone who can empathize with the daily struggle of finding time between classes and work and studying to eat a meal that didn't come from a microwave. They should be someone you respect, but also someone who shows genuine care for your well-being and will advocate for your health while progressing through a challenging program.

What are your current career plans following graduation? What are your long-term career goals?

My aspirations in the bioarchaeological field involve working as an institutional consultant to facilitate the repatriation of Native American remains, a passion which inspired my undergraduate research thesis. I hope to contribute to humanitarian efforts nationally and globally, fulfilling this goal through activism in the applied human rights venues of anthropology. I aim to demonstrate the application of Native and Indigenous knowledge to understanding the past and advocate for the use of Indigenous, decolonizing, queer, and feminist approaches to anthropological research, particularly in bioarchaeological and mortuary studies. Following graduation, I have a position at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History as an Osteologist in their Office of Repatriation, facilitating the return of Ancestors to their descendants and affiliated communities.