Samantha Fladd earned her PhD from the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona in 2018. She is currently the Director of the Museum of Anthropology and Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University.
Dr. Fladd’s research focuses on the ways social groups negotiate their identities through relationships to architecture and spatial settings. She utilizes both traditional architectural analyses and studies of depositional practices and room closure. Although she has conducted fieldwork in various areas of the Four Corners, including Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, northeastern Arizona, and southwestern Colorado, Dr. Fladd’s research relies heavily on archival records and museum collections and considers the implications of the history of archaeological research on narratives of cultural heritage. Increasingly, her work centers on expressions of care in the archaeological record and archaeological practice, emphasizing relationality over classification.