Assistant Professor
westmont@uab.edu
University Hall (UH) 3128

Research and Teaching Interests: Historical Archaeology; Labor Archaeology; Public Archaeology; Cultural Heritage; Forced Labor; Incarceration; Industrialization; Materiality

Office Hours: By appointment

Education:

• BA, University of Kentucky, Anthropology, Political Science
• MA, University of Maryland, Applied Anthropology
• MHP, University of Maryland, Historic Preservation
• PhD, University of Maryland, Anthropology

My work centers on the social relations that arise within contexts of resource extraction from the 18th century to today. The majority of my work has focused on historical coal mining communities, including in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wales.

My current research explores the use of forced prison labor in the coal mining industry in the US South following the US Civil War. Since 2019, I have been working at the site of the Lone Rock Stockade, an 1884 private prison located near Tracy City, Tennessee, in southern Middle Tennessee. Archaeology is revealing more information about prisoners' lives within the prison, including their resistance to the forced prison system.