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  • Biographical Description

  • Bonnie Clark is a Professor in the University of Denver's Anthropology Department. A professional archaeologist since 1990, Dr. Clark's work has focused on using the tangible past-- artifacts, architecture, settlement patterns--to tell a more inclusive history of western North America. Dr. Clark's research interests include the relationships between material culture, ethnicity, and gender; cultural landscapes; community-engaged researach; and heritage management. She teaches a range of classes for the anthropology department including Historical Archaeology, Cultural Narratives, and Anthropologies of Place. Dr. Clark serves as the Curator for Archaeology of the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology. In the Fall of 2011, Dr. Clark was awarded the University of Denver's Teacher/Scholar of the Year.

  • Education

  • Ph.D., Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 2003

    M.A., Anthropology, University of Denver, 1996

    B.A., English and Anthopology, University of Utah, 1990

  • Curriculum Vitae

  • BClarkCV

  • Selected Publications

  • Below are a few of my published journal articles.  For a complete list of my publications, see my Curriculum Vitae.

  • Amache garden archaeology book

    Finding Solace in the Soil: An Archaeology of Garden and Gardeners at Amache is now available through the University Press of Colorado.  More information about the book, including a free download of the Table of Contents and a sample chapter are available at: https://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/3885-finding-solace-in-the-soil 

  • Understanding Amache: The Archaeobiography of a Victorian-era Cheyenne Woman

    Updated for on-line publication, this is about the women for whom the Amache site was named. Originally written for Colorado Heritage magazine in 2006, it was republished for Women's History month, March 2021: https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2021/03/05/understanding-amache 

  • Artifacts, Contested Histories, and Other Archaeological Hotspots

    I reflect on the Amache project and archaeology as a contemporary practice in this piece published in the journal Historical Archaeology: https://rdcu.be/3Rgd 

  • Cultivating Community: The Archaeology of Japanese American Confinement at Amache

    This chapter is from Legacies of Space and Intangible Heritage: Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and the Politics of Cultural Continuity in the Americas edited by Fernando Armstrong-Fumero and Julio Hoil Gutierrez (2017).  This electronic copy was made available to the community through the goodwill of the publisher, University Press of Colorado.

  • When the Foreign is not Exotic.pdf

    This is a book chapter about ceramics at Amache cowritten with a former graduate student who did her thesis research on the camp.

  • Lived Ethnicity: Archaeology and Identity in Mexicano America

    http://0-taylorandfrancis.metapress.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/openurl.asp?genre=article&eissn=1470-1375&volume=37&issue=3&spage=440 Clark, Bonnie J. 2005 Lived ethnicity: archaeology and identity in Mexicano America. World Archaeology Volume 37, Number 3, Pages 440-452. This article was published in the World Archaeology issue on Historical Archaeology. If you have a University of Denver ID or are on the DU server you can access a copy of the article through the above URL.

  • Amache Ochinee Prowers: An Archaeobiography of a Cheyenne Woman

    This is a pdf of my 1996 MA thesis in Anthropology for the University of Denver: Clark thesis.pdf

  • For my students

  • Reports

  • Rourke Midden report Aug 2009.doc

    This reports on fieldwork and laboratory analysis I directed with analysis performed by students in my classes.

  • TEDx Talk

    Since 2008, Dr. Clark has been researching the astonishing gardens created at Amache, Colorado's WWII-era Japanese American incarceration camp. That work was the subject of her 2022 TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEdCTX8VDP8 

  • Dr. Clark's work leading the DU Amache Project was recognized in 2021 by a State Honor Award from Colorado Preservation, Inc.  To learn more, this 3 minute video overviews the work for which she was honored: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0W85_Kr3Uc 

  • Media coverage of research

  • Podcast about Amache Gardens book

    My research on the Amache Gardens was highlighted in an episode of the NPR podcast, Cultivating Place.  You can access it here: https://www.cultivatingplace.com/post/finding-solace-in-the-soil-gardens-gardeners-of-amache-japanese-american-prison-camp 

  • Interview for ArchaeoCafe

    In this 2020 podcast, I am interviewed about archaeological research at Amache and especially the site's gardens: http://archaeocafe.kvasirpublishing.com/archaeocafe-podcast-ep-30-clark/

  • Gardens of Internment

    This interview about my research on the gardens of Amache is part of the DU initiative, Engaging Ideas, to promote the public scholarship of university faculty: https://www.du.edu/ideas/interview-videos/gardens-of-internment.html

  • Interview with National Trust for Historic Preservation

    This interview revolves around my thesis research on the other Amache--Amache Ochinee Prowers, a Cheyenee woman whose house I excavated and who was the subject of my master's thesis: https://savingplaces.org/stories/archaeology-reveals-the-hidden-history-of-amache-ochinee-prowers#.W5khI-hKjIU

     

  • A garden plot and a family history

    In 2016 and 2018, Greg Kitajima, a gardener and Amache descendant, worked with the DU Amache crews on a garden excavation.  He reflects on this experience in this blog for the North American Japanese Garden Association: https://najga.org/uncovering-a-garden-plot-and-a-family-history/

  • Current Research

  • I am the principal investigator for the DU Amache project, commited to researching, interpreting, and preserving the tangible history of Amache, the site of Colorado's WWII era Japanese American internment camp. A selection of Amache-related materials are on this portfolio site.  For more information about that project, please visit:  http://portfolio.du.edu/amache

  • Recorded Presentation on Amache Garden book

    If you are interested my recently published book, Finding Solace in the Soil: An Archaeology of Gardens and Gardeners at Amache, this 1.5 hour long recording includes both a powerpoint illustrated lecture and a Q&A including several Amache survivors addressing their experience of working on the DU Amache Project: https://mediaspace.du.edu/media/Bonnie+Clark+Colloquium+-+January+15%2C+2021/1_jqfkh66q

  • Amache research design summer 2018

    This research design was produced with input from April Kamp-Whittaker, a Ph.D candidate at Arizona State University whose dissertation focuses on community formation at Amache.

  • Course Work

  • Anthropology of Gardening

    The Anthropology of Gardening was piloted as a special topics course in the Fall of 2020 as a way to capture and contextualize the surge in home gardening during 2020.  The syllabus is available here: Anth_Gardening_Syllabus_2020_biblio.doc 

  • Anthropologies of Place.doc

    In 2003, I piloted a course entitled, Anthropologies of Place, taught as one of our Special Topics in Anthropology courses. The course has since been added as a regular offering of the Anthropology Department. To download the course syllabus click on the link above.

  • Historical Archaeology.doc

    This course in Historical Archaeology combines seminar-style class meetings with hands-on work with our archaeological collections. This course fulfills a methods requirement for our archaeology-track graduate students. To download the course syllabus click on the link above.

  • American Material Culture.doc

    This syllabus is for American Material Culture, an Honors Advanced Seminar (ASEM). This interdisciplinary course draws on historical archaeology, cultural landscape studies, and architectural history to instruct students in the analysis of the tangible history of the U.S.  For the past three iteratations, students have also co-curated an exhibit with community members.

  • Fundamentals of Archaeology.doc

    Fundamentals of Archaeology combines lecture, discussion, and hands-on work to introduce students to current archaeological practice. With a focus on how archaeologists uncover and interpret data about past lives, the course also introduces students to the ethics and legal context of archaeological research. Students in this also perform original research on archaeological artifacts, many associated with the DU Museum of Anthropology or deriving from DU faculty research.  To download the course syllabus click on the link above.

  • Cultural narratives.doc

    Cultural Narratives is a seminar class designed to engage students in narrative theory, to help them understand narratives as cultural data, and to confront their own narratives as academics. To access the syllabus, click on the link above.

  • Archaeology of Gender.doc

    This is the syllabus for a course designed to engage students with the deep history of engendered life, using those insights to think about their own.  The course is taught in the Anthropology Department, but cross-listed with Gender and Women's Studies.

  • Advanced Anthropology

    This course is required of our first year M.A. students to lead them through the process of designing an academic project.  The final product in the course is their Master's project proposal.

  • Summer field school in archaeology

    This is the syllabus for the field school held at Amache, the former Japanese American internment camp in Colorado.  The course combines training in historical archaeology with training in museum studies.  Since 2018, the course has been associated with the Institute for Field Research. Anne Amati and Brooke Rohde of the DU Museum of Anthropology, assist with the museum studies portion of the course. 

  • Field Methods in Archaeology

    This course, which is a dual undergraduate/graduate course, introduces students to the methods required for field research in archaeology, especially site survey and testing.  The course involves lecture and hands-on work on campus as well as fieldwork at archaeological sites.

  • Applied Heritage Managment

    This course focuses on legal, ethical, and community mandates for the management of heritage sites, in particular those that include tangible remains. The course takes a balanced approach, providing theoretical, thematic, and legal background, but also a wealth of actual practice with the management of heritage sites.

  • Presentations

  • Clark TAG 2009.ppt

  • Clark-Author in arch.doc

This portfolio last updated: 10-Nov-2022 8:07 AM