Anthony Graesch

Anthony P. Graesch identifies as an anthropologist whose scholarship and investigatory lenses are shaped by archaeological method and theory. His active research programs address (1) materiality and discard behavior in contemporary societies and (2) Indigenous North American households and lifeways concurrent with European migration and settlement. Although seemingly disparate research domains, some common threads can be identified: a focus on discards, discard behavior, and site formation processes; a concern with the relationship between inferential argument and the methods that generate the data on which those arguments are built; and a fascination with the less-studied and often-dismissed realms of the material record. His publication record includes articles on all of these topics, many of which have been written and published with undergraduate students.

At Connecticut College, Professor Graesch offers courses addressing the practice and theory of archaeological anthropology as well as focused, topical seminars that explore contemporary phenomena through the methodological and analytic lenses of archaeology. In both teaching and scholarly pursuits, he subscribes to the idea that undergraduates should achieve demonstrable research literacy at the time of graduation. His efforts to regularly offer classes that challenge students to work harder than they thought possible and to reach unanticipated levels of academic achievement have been acknowledged with the bestowment of a Helen Mulvey Faculty Award.

Research | Curriculum Vitae | Anthropology Department