I am a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. I do research in critical heritage studies and contemporary and historical archaeology, and teach classes in archaeology, cultural anthropology, and four-field anthropology. I also work in support of repatriation and NAGPRA compliance efforts at the University of Kentucky.
My dissertation research considered ways that residents of Acre (‘Akka/Akko) and Rhodes construct alternative formations of ‘heritage’, geared towards community relations and social justice, amidst Israeli and Greek state heritage projects in these historic urban centers. My previous research explored Indigenous peoples’ activism at museums in Canada and the national-colonial mobilization of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the United States and Palestine/Israel. I am developing a new research project on the politics of petro-heritage in western Canada. My interests include heritage and decolonization, the politics of the past, repatriation, and human environmental relations.
I was awarded a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2016-2020) for my research on the politics of heritage in Palestine/Israel and Greece, and was awarded the Sir James Lougheed Award of Distinction from the Government of Alberta for 2018-19. I have also received funding from the University of Massachusetts Department of Anthropology, the Graduate School at UMass Amherst, and the Fondation Québec Philanthrope/ICOMOS Canada.
I received my PhD and MA in Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and my BA in Anthropology from the University of Waterloo.
Email: evan.taylor@uky.edu
Evan Taylor 