As a historical anthropologist of the Andean region of South America, my research takes place at the the intersections of several disciplines, principally archaeology and ethnohistory, prehispanic and colonial studies, and anthropology and cultural geography. My research interests center on the local experiences of imperialism and colonialism under both indigenous and European rule. I explore several dimensions of those experiences, especially through the negotiation of new forms of community organization, religion, and land use. Methodologically, much of my work aims to synthesize archaeological and documentary data sets in a common, GIS-based spatial framework. My current archaeological research investigates the local experience of the shift from Inka to Spanish colonial rule and the earliest phase of Catholic evangelization in the Andes through archaeological research at an Inka imperial outpost that became an early Franciscan doctrinal settlement. Most of my studies have been based in the Colca Valley, a major highland valley of the south central Andean highlands.
Photos of our 2008 excavations at the early mission settlement of Malata have been posted here.