Charlotte Dawson

About Charlotte Dawson

I am a Ph.D. student in Sociocultural Anthropology with interests in multispecies ethnography, environmental anthropology, and American Indian Studies. During my undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia, I researched the production and trade of horseback riding equipment throughout Native North America from the 1500’s onward. From 2014-2017 I worked at the Arctic Inuit Art Gallery in Charlottesville and received my BA in Anthropology and Art History from UVA in 2016. I've held various research assistantships in archaeology and anthropology and was lucky enough to work with Edith Turner before her passing in 2016. Since entering the PhD program in 2019, I’ve held teaching assistantships with various professors in the SOA. My primary faculty advisors are Dr. Lindsay Montgomery and Dr. Diane Austin. I also currently serve as the Community and Outreach Chair in the Anthropology Graduate Students at the University of Arizona group (AGUA).  

My ongoing Master's research draws on Gerald Vizenor’s concept of survivance as an interpretive lens to understand the revitalization of Lakota horse regalia production and its use in Indigenous-led “spirit rides” that memorialize historic massacres or support socio-political actions like the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s movement. I’ve recently had the opportunity to collaborate with a Tucson non-profit organization that supports students from historically marginalized communities in their transition to careers or post-secondary education. This project will include an Equine-Assisted Learning component and has provided valuable practice in developing research designs that respond to community needs as well as the ethical considerations of nonhuman participation in research.

Selected Publications

Kavadias, Dionisios, Charlotte Dawson, and Edith L.B. Turner. The Elderly Process: Edith Turner's Last Fieldsite. In The Intellectual Legacy of Victor and Edith Turner. Frank A. Salamone and Marjorie M. Snipes, eds. Pp. 89-106. Lexington Books. 2018.

Courses Taught

Teaching Assistantships: 

ANTH 327: Dog Thought. Spring 2021 with Dr. Evan MacLean

ANTH 170C2: Animal Minds. Fall 2020 with Dr. Evan MacLean

ANTH 310: Culture and the Individual. Spring 2020 with Dr. Brian Silverstein

ANTH 150C1: Humanity: A How-To Guide. Fall 2019 with Dr. Robert Schon