I'm a fourth year PhD student in the Anthropology Department at Brown University. Broadly, my research interests center on Mesoamerica (geographically), the Classic Period Maya (culturally), and architecture (topically). My developing dissertation project focuses on the technologies the Maya engaged with to construct large-scale, public, masonry architecture at the site of El Zotz, Guatemala. More specifically, my research emphasizes architectural process and practice, underscoring both the people who transformed their landscapes through time and across space, as well as the technological practices they used to enact such transformations. Utlimately, I aim to develop an anthropological framework for understanding the archaeology of building(s)--one that conceptualizes architecture not as a static, finished product, but rather as an ongoing creation that materializes fluid social practices.

In addition to digging, I avidly enjoy football, cartoons, and aquariums.

Education:

2004: B.A., New York University, Anthropology & Linguistics, summa cum laude, with honors in anthropology (Dr. Rita Wright, advisor)

2006: M.A., Brown University, Anthropology

• M.A. Thesis: "The Modification of Maya Monuments: Towards a Local Theory of Sculptural Ontology"
• Committee: Dr. Stephen Houston (Chair); Dr. Douglas Anderson and Dr. Patricia Rubertone (readers)

2010 (expected): Ph.D., Anthropology

• Ph.D. Dissertation: "From Product to Process: Constructing an Anthropology of Building(s) at El Zotz, Guatemala"
• Committee: Dr. Stephen Houston (Chair); Dr. Susan Alcock, Dr. Patricia Rubertone (readers); Dr. Sheila Bonde (external reader)

Selected Publications

Recent Papers

Teaching and Museum Experience

Some fieldwork

Contact Information':

E-mail: Cassandra_Mesick@brown.edu

Mailing Address: Department of Anthropology Box 1921 Brown University Providence, RI 02912