Geographical Areas of Specialization: Near East, North America
Topical Interests: Indigenous and community archaeology, postcolonial/decolonizing research, collaborative methodologies, clay/ceramics analysis, anthropology of food and cooking, comparative ethics, cultural and intellectual property
Profile:
I'm interested in finding ways of doing archaeology in full partnership with indigenous and local communities including all aspects of the archaeological process, from development of research designs to grant writing, ethics and IRB review, fieldwork, analysis and dissemination of results. The desire to involve communities in the process of investigating their own heritage led me to compare various forms of community based and participatory research (CBPR) methods. The motivating force behind this comparative research, and the partnerships I conduct with Native American and Turkish communities, is my strong belief that archaeology is at its best when everyday people are engaged in the work of studying, protecting and teaching about their own heritage. I advocate for a community based archaeology in which scholars work with community members to identify core tribal and community values which are then utilized as guiding principles to produce rigorous research on projects that originate locally, build community capacity, and provide substantive benefits that contribute to community well-being.
The five active community based archaeology fieldwork projects I'm currently involved with are located in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. and in south central Turkey (Çatalhöyük). My work in Turkey involves developing heritage management and cultural tourism strategies in partnership with rural village residents near the World Heritage nominated site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. This involved developing community driven archaeology education projects, including an archaeology comic series, a local internship program, and an archaeological community theatre troupe which aims to perform Çatalhöyük themed plays nationally and internationally. My U.S. based work with Native American communities includes NAGPRA-related affiliation research, protection of indigenous intellectual property through development of a tribal management plan for petroglyphs in eastern Michigan, and development of an interpretive heritage trail to protect a mound site in southern Indiana. These projects demonstrate that the methods and theory of Indigenous archaeology particularly community based archaeology - can be applied globally, by any archaeologist.
Although my recent research has focused primarily on community based archaeology, I'm also interested in more traditional analysis of archaeological materials. I study foodways, cooking methods (particularly oven/hearth production and use) and pyrotechnology during the Neolithic period of Turkey and the Near East region. Since 1997, I've been the clay ball analyst for the Çatalhöyük Research project, and have conducted research on the changing food practices during the transition from hunting and gathering to farming.
My research and teaching are deeply intertwined -- I am committed to actively involving students in all of these research efforts and to ensuring that they receive training that will allow them to conduct their own community based archaeology. I train PhD students in community based research methods through a year-long two-part course series of service learning classes in which students receive hands-on training working in partnership with indigenous communities developing and carrying out archaeology projects that benefit their community.
Research interests: Community based archaeology; Indigenous archaeology (particularly indigenous approaches to heritage management and stewardship); archaeological ethics; NAGPRA and repatriation; and intellectual property issues in archaeology; clay analysis; foodways and cooking technologies.
Link to my CV
Statement on the “Lost Civilizations of North America” DVD
Atalay, Sonya (forthcoming 2012) Community Based Archaeology: Research with, by and for Indigenous and Local Communities. University of California Press.
Atalay, Sonya 2010 ‘We don’t talk about Çatalhöyük, we live it’: building community capacity through archaeological research using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodology. World Archaeology 42(3):418-429.
Atalay, Sonya; Duygu Çamurcuoğlu-Cleere; Ian Hodder; Stephanie Moser, Aylin Orbaşli; Elizabeth Pye 2010 Protecting And Exhibiting Çatalhöyük. The Turkish Academy of Sciences Journal of Cultural Inventory (TÜBA-KED) 6:7-18.
Atalay, Sonya 2010 Diba Jimooyung Telling Our Story: Colonization and Decolonization of Archaeological Practice from an Anishinabe Perspective. In World Archaeological Congress (WAC) Handbook of Postcolonial Archaeology. Uzma Rizvi and Jane Lydon (eds.) Chapter 4, p. 61-72. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA.
Atalay, Sonya 2009 Raise your head and be proud Ojibwekwe. In Being and Becoming Indigenous Archaeologists. George Nicholas (ed.). Chapter 4, p.45-54, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA.
Atalay, Sonya 2008 Pedagogy of Decolonization: Advancing Archaeological Practice through Education. In Collaborating at the Trowel's Edge: Teaching and Learning in Indigenous Archaeology. Stephen W. Silliman (ed.), Chapter 7, p. 123-144, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Atalay, Sonya 2008 No Sense of the Struggle: Creating a Context for Survivance at the NMAI. In The National Museum of the American Indian: critical conversations. Amy Lonetree and Amanda Cobb (eds.), Chapter 10, p. 267-289, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. (Reprint from American Indian Quarterly 30(4):597-618)
Atalay, Sonya 2007 Global Application of Indigenous Archaeology: Community Based Participatory Research in Turkey. Archaeologies 3 (3): 249-270.
Atalay, Sonya 2007 Multivocality and Indigenous Archaeologies. In Evaluating Multiple Narratives: Beyond Nationalist, Colonialist, and Imperialist Archaeologies. Junko Habu, Clare Fawcett, and John Matsunaga (eds.), Chapter 3, p.29-44. Springer Press, New York.
Atalay, Sonya 2006 Introduction: Decolonizing Archaeology – Efforts to Transform a Discipline’. American Indian Quarterly 30(3):269-279.
Atalay, Sonya 2006 Indigenous Archaeology as Decolonizing Practice. American Indian Quarterly 30(3):280-310.
Atalay, Sonya and Christine Hastorf 2006 Food, Meals, and Daily Activities: The Habitus of Food Practices at Neolithic, Çatalhöyük. American Antiquity 71(2): 283-319.
Atalay, Sonya 2006 No Sense of the Struggle: Giving voice to our survivance at the National Museum of the American Indian. American Indian Quarterly, 30(4):597-618.
Atalay, Sonya 2005 Domesticating Clay: the Role of Clay Balls, Mini Balls, and Geometric Objects in Daily Life at Çatalhöyük. In Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük: reports from the 1995-99 seasons. Ian Hodder (ed.), Chapter 6, p. 139-168. Çatalhöyük Project Volume 5. McDonald Institute Monographs/British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara.
Atalay, Sonya and Christine Hastorf 2005 Foodways at Çatalhöyük. In Çatalhöyük Perspectives: themes from the 1995-99 seasons. Ian Hodder (ed.), Chapter 8, p.109-124. Çatalhöyük Project Volume 6. McDonald Institute Monographs/British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara.
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anthro@indiana.edu