Assistant Professor, Anthropology
The University of British Columbia, Okanagan
I am Assistant Professor in Anthropology at The University of British Columbia. My research programme examines and addresses geospatial and digital methods in anti-colonial and Indigenous studies of heritage (including archaeology). My research interests are geovisualization and GIS, place-based heritage, data practice, community governance of data, anti-racism and archaeology in India and Canada. I build and expand on these interests through DARE | Digital Archaeology Research Environment, a Canada Foundation for Innovation laboratory at UBC Okanagan.
Interests
- Digital and Geospatial Methods
- Postcolonial, decolonial, anti-colonial and Indigenous studies of heritage
- Archaeology in India and Canada
Education
PhD Anthropology, 2012
McGill University
MSc GIS and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology, 2002
University College London
BSc (Hons.) Archaeological Sciences, 2001
University of Toronto
Featured Publications
Gamification of Digital Heritage as an Approach to Improving Museum and Art Gallery Engagement for Blind and Partially Sighted Visitors
Digitization of heritage in art gallery and museum contexts raises ethical concerns around ownership, consent, and use. It also highlights fundamental issues of access and engagement for blind and partially sighted (BPS) visitors, especially elders.
We describe and discuss systemic barriers for Indigenous, Black and racialized archaeologists in securing employment and leadership positions in Canadian archaeology and ways to begin addressing these problematic practices.
Geographic Visualization in Archaeology
Since the late 1980s, GIS has mainly been used to support data collection and management as well as spatial analysis and modeling. While fruitful, these efforts have arguably neglected the potential contribution of advanced visualization methods to the generation of broader archaeological knowledge. Greater effort in developing geovisualization and geovisual analytics appropriate for archaeological data can create opportunities to visualize, navigate, and assess different sources of information within the larger archaeological community, thus enhancing possibilities for collaborative research and new forms of critical inquiry.
Recent Publications
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(2023).
The CARE Principles and the Reuse, Sharing, and Curation of Indigenous Data in Canadian Archaeology.
Advances in Archaeological Practice.
(2023).
Will It Ever Be FAIR?: Making Archaeological Data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
Advances in Archaeological Practice.
(2022).
Being Seen, Being Heard: Ownership of Archaeology and Digital Heritage.
Archaeologies.
(2022).
Connecting Past to Present: Enacting Indigenous Data Governance Principles in Westbank First Nation’s Archaeology and Digital Heritage.
Archaeologies.
(2022).
Ethics, Community and Data.
Conservation Perspectives.
Teaching
Course syllabi available
- Digital Arts and Humanities Seminar (Graduate level)
- Introduction to World Archaeology (100-level)
- Archaeological Inquiry & Practice (200-level)
- Digital Methods in Archaeology & Heritage (300-level)
- Settling Down: An Archaeology of Early State Societies (300-level)
- Digital Anthropology (400-level)
- Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (200-level)
- Scientific Applications in Archaeology (400-level)
Projects
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The project will support a network of participants who will investigate, develop, demonstrate, and promote more equitable cultural heritage data curation practices, with the aim to reconcile the CARE and FAIR data governance principles.
A collaborative project between Westbank First Nation Archaeology and UBC Okanagan that focuses on enacting Indigenous data governance principles such as OCAP® (ownership, control, access and possession) in digital heritage. The principles can help guide appropriate ways to share digital heritage within and beyond Westbank First Nation, while simultaneously supporting community caretaking of its digital heritage.
Indigenous data governance draws from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) to re-center Indigenous rights and aspirations in research, policy and practice. In a digital environment, greater attention and deliberate efforts are needed in the governance of data, specifically heritage data that relate to and represent Indigenous communities.
Visualizations summarize large amounts of digital information and allow the grouping and filtering of data. With visualization tools, archaeologists and community members can interact with digital archaeological information to see patterns and gain insight into data collection and curation practices.
ODATE is an e-textbook project funded by the Province of Ontario’s eCampus Ontario Open Content Initiative. Digital archaeology encourages innovative and critical use of open access data and the development of digital tools that facilitate linkages and analysis across varied digital sources.
Northern Kerala Archaeology Project, NorKAP for short, is a collaboration with the University of Kerala. The project, led by Dr Neha Gupta and Dr Rajesh SV (Kerala) examines long-term change in the social and political organization of past societies in the Bharathapuzha River Valley in northern Kerala. Preliminary results were presented at the Society for American Archaeology meetings in April 2017.
MINA is a public digital Web-based platform that maps Indian archaeology through time and that can enable linking with other dynamic and static geographically-referenced sources of information such as newspapers, journal articles and archaeological reports.
Circles of Interaction aimed to enhance collaboration between archaeologists and the Huron-Wendat Nation and to facilitate discussion between them regarding the collection and interpretation of archaeological data and the preservation of cultural heritage.
A study of archaeology in Sanghol, Punjab, as part of my doctoral research. The study highlights the influence of social and political factors on the interpretation of archaeological data and the preservation of cultural heritage in post-1947 Independent India.
A study of the practice of Indian archaeology as part of my doctoral research. Indian archaeology is neither evenly distributed nor uniformly practiced over time.
The Training and Human Resources Development Project at McGill University aimed to address inequalities in the availability of health and social services for linguistic minorities in Quebec, Canada. Availability was visualized and assessed using maps.
The project aimed to develop tools and technologies in the detection of clandestine graves at the Parc Safari animal cemetery, and 3-dimensional documentation of graves and occupants.
Recent Talks & Workshops
Contact
Email me: neha(dot)gupta(at)ubc(dot)ca