May, 2010: Ph.D. in Anthropology from the
School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University
- Dissertation title: Relationships among Ideology, Iconography, and Sociopolitical Organization in the Mississippian World
- Committee members: Dr. Christopher Carr (chairperson), Dr. Katherine Spielmann, Dr. Ben Nelson, Dr. Paul Welch
My doctoral research involved the relationship between political organization and ideology in Mississippian chiefdoms. I drew upon iconographic corpora from the Black Warrior River Valley and the Lower Ohio River Valley to argue that inter- and intra-polity political organization significantly constrained the ideologies promoted by Mississippian elite.
May, 2001: M.A. in Anthropology at Arizona State University
- Thesis title: Archaeological Evidence for Oral Narratives at Spiro, Oklahoma, and Its Implications for Spiro Leadership
- Committee members: Dr. Christopher Carr (chairperson), Dr. Katherine Spielmann, Dr. Elizabeth Brandt
My MA research dealt with the Spiro engraved shell. Using concepts and methods developed in the field of folkoristics, I compared the Spiro shell iconography to historic period Southeastern folktales.
A statistical argument was made that certain folktale types known from the historic period are also depicted in the Spiro corpus, though particular variants could not be identified. Based on these known tale types, I then made inferences on the nature of Spiro leadership.
May, 1998: B.A. from Indiana University, Bloomington, with majors in
Anthropology, Folklore Studies, and Classical Civilization (Literary and Cultural Emphasis)
My anthropology BA required no senior thesis. My Classics BA had a senior project that involved reviewing and evaluating textbooks and electronic resources, but it did not result in a research paper.
My studies in IU’s Folklore Institute produced two major research papers. The first was published in Journal of American Folklore in 2000. The second collected and analyzed personal narratives told by archaeologists. It remains unpublished, mostly because I’m unsure which journal is an appropriate home for it.