Larissa M. Smith, M.A.

I completed my Bachelors of the Arts in Anthropology with a minor in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona, Tucson, in 2005. While an Undergraduate, I was awarded the NSF/REU grant to conduct archaeological fieldwork on prehistoric pit structures. I was a the lead docent at the Arizona State Museum and I interned at the Field Museum of Natural History analyzing wooden platters of Papua New Guinea. I earned my Masters of the Arts in Anthropology in 2008 from the University of Illinois at Chicago focusing on etthnoarchaeology of Philippine foragers.

Thanks to a Henry Luce Grant, amongst several University fellowships and awards, I was able to complete my dissertation fieldwork among the Ata of the Negros Island, of the Philippines. My dissertation uses an ethnoarchaeological and regional approach to understanding and re-interpeting forager resiliency over more than 1500 years, combining archaeological, ethnograph, history documents, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

2017   Publication     “Chapter 36: Farmer and Forager Interactions in South East Asian” in Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology

03/2017 Workshop Presenter, Sigma Gamma Rho Youth Symposium, Chicago, IL. “What is Anthropology: A Hands-On Children’s Approach to Understanding the Field”;

02/2017  Career Fair Presenter, John Drake Elementary School, Chicago, IL. “What is Anthropology: A Hands-on Approach for the Youth about the 4 Fields”;

05/2013 Classroom Workshop, Andrew Jackson Academy, Chicago, IL. “What is Archaeology: Digging in the Dirt and Artifact Preservation”;

02/2012  Workshop Presenter, Mayo Elementary School Career Fair, Chicago, IL. “What is Anthropology: A Hands-On Children’s Approach to Understanding the Field”.

08/2008 – present The University of Illinois at Chicago
Ph.D. Anthropology (Expected August 2019)

08/2005- 08/2008 The University of Illinois at Chicago
M.A. Anthropology

08/2001- 5/2005 The University of Arizona
B.A. Anthropology, Minor: American Indian Studies

European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists

Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association

Society of American Archaeologists

Americal Anthropological Association

04/2016          Paper Presenter, Society for American Archaeology Conference , Orlando, FL. “Making It Cool: Modern Lessons in Reinterpreting,  Reappropriating Theory and Method in Forager Studies”

07/2015          Paper Presenter, Europ. Assoc. for Southeast Asian Studies,    Paris, France. “Modern Lessons in Reinterpreting, Reappropriating and Understanding Forager Studies

03/2014          Panel Organizer/Presenter     UIC Second City Conference, Chicago, IL. “Forager Resiliency: What Exactly Does it Look Like- An Ethnoarchaeological Approach”

09/2013          Co-Author/ Presenter, Indo-Pacific Prehistory Assoc. Congress,Siem Reap, Cambodia. “Trade Along the Margins in the Precolonial Philippines: Upland Entrepeneurs and the 11th-16th Centuries Tanjay Chiefdom”

4/2011            Paper Co-Author, American Anthropological Assoc. Conference, Sacramento, CA. “Conflictive Trade Along the Margins: Value and Power Relations Between Foragers, Tribal Swiddeners, and Lowland Polities in the Prehispanic and Recent Philippines”

Geospatial Analysis of Philippine Forager Settlement Patterns