Raquel Fleskes

Raquel Fleskes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Dartmouth College. Her research focuses on using ancient DNA to reconstruct population histories in colonial North America, particularly for European and African descendant communities. She emphasizes ethical collaboration with descendant communities and integrates archaeological, osteological, and archival data with genetic evidence.

Education includes a B.A. from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her work bridges molecular anthropology and community engagement, addressing structural violence in historical records and advocating for science accountable to impacted communities.

Key research areas include colonial population dynamics, African diaspora genetics, and ethical frameworks in paleogenomics. Funded by the National Science Foundation and National Geographic, her projects collaborate with institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and Fairfield Foundation.

Notable achievements include the 2021 Editor's Choice Article for her work on enslaved Africans' lived experiences. She leads the Historical Genomics Lab, focusing on colonial frontier studies and community-based epistemologies. Courses taught include Human Biological Diversity and Introduction to Biological Anthropology.