Join SCAS for a presentation by Victoria Asia Roberson on: “The Bioarchaeology of Care.”
DATE: Thursday, December 12, 2024
TIME: 7:30 – 8:30 PM (Pacific)
This is a hybrid event! We invite you to join us in-person at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, or via Zoom (see below for Zoom registration form)!
ZOOM REGISTRATION FORM: SCAS Zoom Registration Form
***RSVP for Zoom by 6:30 PM on Thursday, December 12, 2024 *** Or show up to the Resource Center for Nonviolence by 7:30 to join us in-person!
This presentation of a student capstone project examines publications in the field of bioarchaeology and osteology that address the Bioarchaeology of Care Approach. This is accomplished through an investigation, evaluation, and discussion of how methodological research approaches are utilized to identify care practices in the archeological record. The field of Bioarchaeology of Care explores how past people experienced bodily trauma or illness, and how their communities responded to resulting impairments and disabilities. This subfield of Bioarchaeology has proven to be a valuable framework for understanding both individual experiences and broader community values or dynamics. Diverse methodological approaches were discovered with various strengths, limitations, and roles by examining archeological data. Furthermore, the field is characterized by the concept of care, which is undergoing further development as researchers challenge how to define the act of giving or receiving care.
Victoria Asia Roberson was born in Santa Cruz and raised in Aptos. She graduated from Cabrillo College with Associates of Arts Degrees in Sociology and History before transferring to California State University at Monterey Bay, where she recently graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Social & Behavioral Science with a concentration in Archaeology. Throughout her time at CSUMB, she took archaeology and forensic courses with Bioarchaeologists who piqued her interest in osteology. Bioarchaeology became the focus of her learning throughout her senior year at CSUMB. This spring she completed the California Field School through Foothill College where she had the opportunity to develop CRM focused field methods alongside other young archaeology students at Hidden Villa in Los Altos. She then went on to volunteer for the CA State Parks in the 2024 Summer Archaeology program, working alongside many longtime volunteers to process and catalog American period artifacts from Santa Clara University’s archaeological collection, with the guidance of the Interpreters and Archaeologists at the Santa Cruz Mission. Currently, she is working as a field archaeologist for Dudek, through their Santa Cruz office, where she has continued to grow and learn alongside great local Archaeologists.
