Kaitlin Brown

My research focuses on Indigenous–colonial interactions across successive waves of settler colonialism in North America. I examine how Native communities navigated shifting social, political, and economic conditions while sustaining relationships to land, kinship networks, and broader cultural knowledge. By tracing these processes from the past to the present, my work increasingly engages contemporary issues. This present-oriented perspective informs my ongoing partnerships with tribal nations today and also provides me a reflexive framework for engaging archaeology as a social practice.

Methodologically, I draw on collaborative and reflexive approaches, including community-based participatory research (CBPR), ethnographic and auto-archaeology, oral history, and low-impact excavation strategies. My teaching reflects these commitments by emphasizing decolonized approaches that encourage students to critically examine how archaeological knowledge is produced, whose perspectives are prioritized, and how the discipline can be practiced more ethically and responsibly.

Learn more about her ongoing research and active lab here: https://communityarchlab.com/