Dr. Jon Daehnke, Assistant Professor, Anthropology Department, University of California, Santa Cruz

Spring 2016 Brown Bag

Dr. Daehnke is an anthropologist with research and teaching interests in cultural heritage stewardship and law, and the archaeology of the North American Pacific Coast. Much of his writing focuses on the politics of cultural heritage and public representations of the past, especially within the context of Native American identity and the legacies of colonialism. He has recently completed a collaborative book manuscript with the Chinook Indian Nation that explores the challenges and successes of their efforts to reaffirm control of their own heritage.

Daehnke’s archaeological fieldwork centers on the floodplain of the Columbia River. As a partner in the Wapato Valley Archaeology Project (WVAP) his research is driven by questions surrounding the long-term use of landscape, especially within the context of human response to rapid or "catastrophic" change. He is also conducting long-term landscape surveys in the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in south-central Oregon, with an emphasis on the documentation of rock-art sites.