Charlotte Sunseri

Charlotte Sunseri is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at San Jose State University, where she has taught since 2011. She earned her Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz in 2009.

• Specializes in historical archaeology and economic anthropology
• Focuses on labor practices, social identity, and capitalist systems
• Conducts fieldwork in North America and West Africa
• Recipient of multiple teaching and research awards

Her research explores power dynamics in capitalist structures through archaeological analysis of corporate-controlled environments like company towns. Key projects include:

• New Almaden Workers’ Heritage Project (2020-ongoing)
• Mono Mills Archaeological Project (2011-2020)

Recent publications span topics from Indigenous labor participation to foodway politics in colonial settings. She combines zooarchaeological analysis with spatial and quantitative methods to examine:

• Racialized/gendered labor systems
• Cultural landscape formation
• Health impacts in industrial contexts
• Archaeology of resistance and adaptation

Her awards include:

• College of Social Sciences Teaching Excellence Award (2017)
• SJSU Outstanding Professor (2020)
• Teaching Award from UC Santa Cruz

Professor Sunseri has professional fieldwork experience across California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, and Mali, West Africa.