معرفی
Charlotte Williams is a Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellow and Sapiens Public Scholar Fellow specializing in critical archaeology and cultural heritage studies. She completed her PhD in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2025, with her doctoral work examining intersections of American imperialism, archaeology, and extractive labor systems in Central America.
Her educational trajectory includes:
- MPhil in Archaeology: Museums and Heritage Studies from the University of Cambridge (2018), awarded the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship
- BA in Anthropology with Certificates in Latin American Studies, Archaeology, and Urban Studies from Princeton University (2017)
Williams' research critically investigates how corporate imperial projects like the United Fruit Company weaponized archaeology to control territory, revealing parallel systems of labor exploitation for both agricultural and cultural extraction. Her work bridges anthropology, colonial studies, and infrastructure theory with specific focus on archives, extractivism, and corporate colonialism in Latin America/Caribbean.
Her contributions have been recognized through multiple competitive awards:
- Ben Franklin Graduate Fellowship
- Presidential Endowment Graduate Fellowship
- Sundry Gifts Graduate Fellowship
- Gates-Cambridge Scholarship
- Wenner-Gren Foundation Fellowship
- Mellon Democracy and Landscape Initiative Fellowship (2024-2025)
- Sapiens Public Scholar Fellowship
Supported by the Smithsonian and Wenner-Gren Foundation, Williams actively engages in public scholarship through her Sapiens fellowship while continuing postdoctoral research at the Smithsonian Institution. Her emerging scholarship represents significant contributions to decolonial approaches in archaeology and heritage studies.
