Carolyn Smith

Contact

OFFICE: 209 Archaeological Research Facility

OFFICE HOURS: Wednesday 11 am to 12 pm, Thursday 1 pm to 2 pm, or by appointment.

Special Interests

California; Indigenous art and embodied art practice; environment, climate change, and ecocultural restoration; Indigenous methodologies; museum anthropology; decolonizing and Indigenizing museums.

Additional Links

Archaeological Research Facility

Topics

Research

Dr. Carolyn Smith (Karuk) is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, a position to which she was appointed after completing postdoctoral appointments there as a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in Native American Studies, and a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. A traditional basketweaver and artist, Dr. Smith engages with Indigenous methodologies in her research to explore the profound interconnections between Karuk basketry and Indigenous ways of knowing and being in the world. One of her most recent co-authored articles, "Advancing Indigenous Futures with Two-Eyed Seeing: Strategies for Restoration and Repair through Collaborative Research," discusses interventions aimed at enhancing Indigenous leadership in research, particularly in relation to the eco-cultural revitalization efforts undertaken by the Karuk Tribe. This article highlights the dynamic nature and vitality of Karuk knowledge as it resists ahistorical essentialism by engaging with the joys of both human and non-human relationships, ceremonial scales, and practices of solidarity.

Representative Publications

2024 (Amanda Guzmán and Carolyn Smith) “Material Fragility: A Rubric of Care.” Anthropology News, Issue: November-December 2024. https://www.anthropology-news.org/articles/material-fragility-a-rubric-of-care/.

2024 (A.J. Guzmán, C. Smith, R.A. Joyce) Teaching Museum Curation and Cultural Equity by Design. In Pragmatic Imagination and the New Museum Anthropology, edited C.J. Hodge and C. Kreps. Routledge, New York.

2023 (J.R. Oberholtzer, C. Smith, A. Lincoln-Cook and C. Gonzales) “Indigenous Environmental Justice and California Indian Basketweavers,” In “Collaborative Management, Environmental Caretaking, and Sustainable Livelihoods,” ed. M. Vaughan, S. Diver, and M. Baker-Medard. Special Issue. Ecology and Society.

2023 (C. Smith, R. Reed, and S. Diver) “Indigenous Futures in Two-Eyed Seeing: Strategies for Restoration and Repair,” In “Indigenous Research Sovereignty,” ed. Dr. J. Johnson, R. Pualani Louis, M. Nelson, M. Palmer, and J. Brewer. Special Issue. Environment and Planning: F.

2022 (Ira Jacknis, Carolyn Smith and Olivia Chilcote) California. In Handbook of North American Indians: Introduction. Volume 1. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.