Larissa M. Smith, M.A.
Graduate Student
Anthropology, Archaeology
Contact
Building & Room:
BSB 3103
Address:
1007 W. Harrison Street
Email:
CV Download:
About
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).
Selected Grants
University of Illinois at Chicago, Abraham Lincoln University Fellowship, Principal Investigator
American Council of Learned Societies, Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Fellowship for East/Southeast Asian Archaeology and Early History 2010-2011, Principal Investigator
Selected Publications
2017 Publication “Chapter 36: Farmer and Forager Interactions in South East Asian” in Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology
Service to Community
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”.
Notable Honors
2012, Provost Award for Graduate Research, University of Illinois at Chicago
2008, Charles Reed Award, UIC Anthropology
Education
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
Professional Memberships
European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists
Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
Society of American Archaeologists
Americal Anthropological Association
Selected Presentations
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”
Research Currently in Progress
Geospatial Analysis of Philippine Forager Settlement Patterns