Claire Smith (archaeologist)

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Claire Smith
Joan Gero, Claire Smith, Martin Wobst, WAC-5.png
Claire Smith (centre) with Joan Gero and H. Martin Wobst at WAC-5, Washington D.C., 2005
Born (1957-07-15) 15 July 1957 (age 67)
Education
Occupation Archaeologist
Employer Flinders University
Organization(s) World Archaeological Congress, President from 2003 to 2008 & 2008-2014

Claire Edwina Smith AO , FSA , FAHA (born 15 July 1957) is an Australian archaeologist specialising in Indigenous archaeology, symbolic communication and rock art. She was dean (research) of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University in 2017-2018 and, before that, head of the Department of Archaeology. She was president of the World Archaeological Congress from 2003 to 2014. Among her many publications is the Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology (Springer 2014, 2020). [1]

Contents

Education and career

Smith obtained a bachelor's degree in archaeology from the University of New England in 1990, and a PhD from the same university in 1996. Her doctoral thesis was an ethnoarchaeological study of Australian Aboriginal art. [1] She also wrote a book called, "Decolonizing Indigenous Archaeology." [2] After that she held an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship.[ citation needed ]

With her husband, Gary Jackson, Smith has conducted long term field research in the Aboriginal community of Barunga. She has brought Aboriginal students to train in Adelaide, created archaeological field schools for Aboriginal students, and has been a major contributor to the development of Indigenous Archaeology, both in Australia and elsewhere in the world.[ citation needed ]

Her tenure at the helm of World Archaeological Congress included creation of a scholarly journal for the organization, Archaeologies, [3] as well as outreach programs such as Archaeologists without Borders and the Global Libraries Project. [4]

Her scholarly output has largely focused on the relationship between archaeologists and indigenous communities, both in Australia and around the world. She has also given attention to general interests for teaching archaeology, such as her Archaeology to Delight and Instruct, and practicing it, such as Digging It Up Down Under. Her archaeological field methods textbook for introductory students has gone through two editions in Australia and was published in an American edition. Her interest in bringing heritage and community archaeology issues to public attention, particularly the plight of Aboriginal peoples in Australia, has led to a series of articles in the Australian news source The Conversation on these topics.[ citation needed ]

Smith is a member of the editorial advisory board of the archaeology journal Antiquity . [5]

Honours and recognition

Smith's awards include the Lucy Mair Medal and the Marsh Award of the Royal Anthropological Institute (2018), a Commemorative Medal from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (2018), and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the World Archaeological Congress (2016). In 2010, she was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and in 2019 she was elected fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. [6]

She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2025 Australia Day Honours. [7]

Selected publications

Encyclopedia

Books

Journal Articles

Book Chapters

Online Public Articles

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Claire Smith". Flinders University. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  2. Smith, Claire; Jackson, Gary (2006). "Decolonizing Indigenous Archaeology". American Indian Quarterly. 30 (3/4): 311–349. doi:10.1353/aiq.2006.0032. JSTOR   4139017. S2CID   144198921.
  3. "Archaeologies".
  4. "Get Involved – World Archaeological Congress".
  5. "Editorial Advisory Board". Antiquity. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  6. "Fellow Profile: Claire Smith". Australian Academy of the Humanities. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  7. "Professor Claire Edwina SMITH". Australian Honours Search Facility. Retrieved 25 January 2025.