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Sarah Kennedy

Robert A. Oden, Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow for Innovation in the Humanities and Archaeology, Archaeology

Education & Professional History

University of Wyoming, BA; University of Florida, MA; University of Pittsburgh, PhD

I am an archaeologist whose research focuses on marginalized labor, power dynamics, social identity, and foodways practices in colonial Peru. I teach courses on archaeological methods, North and South American archaeology, labor and coercion, ancient urbanism, and food/cuisine.

My research in Peru has primarily examined the effects of Spanish enforced colonial policies in South America, such as tribute (taxes) and forced resettlement (reducción) of native populations. In 2017, I began the Trapiche Archaeology Project to study the effects of colonial mining labor in Puno, Peru, excavating isolated work camps (silver refineries) where indigenous laborers were forced to work and process metals for the Spanish colonial government.


At Carleton since 2021.

Current Courses

  • Fall 2022
    ARCN 246: Archaeological Methods & Lab
  • Winter 2023
    ARCN 211: Coercion and Exploitation: Material Histories of Labor
  • Fall 2023
    ARCN 246: Archaeological Methods & Lab
  • Winter 2024
    LTAM 220: Eating the Americas: 5,000 Years of Food
  • Spring 2024
    ARCN 111: Archaeology of the Americas