Shayla Monroe

Shayla Monroe is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), affiliated with the Peabody Museum. Her research focuses on African pastoralism, zooarchaeology in the Nile Valley, and the political ecology of climate change impacts. She holds a PhD (2021), MA (2015) in Anthropology from UC Santa Barbara, and dual BA degrees (2012) in Anthropology and English from Howard University.

Her work includes field projects at Sudan's 3rd Cataract sites (Tombos and Abu Fatima), examining Egyptian colonial interactions and pastoralist dynamics. She investigates how animal use reflects social structures and power relations across the Middle Nile Valley and Sahel from the Late Neolithic through Bronze Age. Monroe also consults on K-12 curricula about African prehistory.

Teaching interests include environmental archaeology, interdisciplinary approaches to African studies, and colonialism's influence on anthropological knowledge. Her research emphasizes zooarchaeological methods to understand human-environment interactions and intergroup cooperation/conflict.