LAIS Vice-Director,
Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture
Education:
B.A. University of Michigan, Ann ArborM.A. UC San Diego
Ph.D. UC San Diego
Home Department:
Fields of Study:
conservation, craft production, Cultural heritage, cultural landscapes, culture contact, frontiers, metalworking and ancient technology, Pre-Columbian art and archaeology
Email: aboswell@ucsb.edu
Bio:
Alicia Boswell is an anthropological archaeologist who specializes in the art and archaeology of the ancient Americas. Her research focuses on understanding the relationships between and within culture groups of the Andes through the material record. Her current project examines the production and display of elite regalia of the Moche culture from the north coast of Peru (AD 200–800) and its implications for understanding regional identities and sociopolitical relationships throughout the Moche world.She has more than a decade of experience carrying out archaeological fieldwork in Peru and also has worked on archaeological projects in Mexico and California. Collaboration with modern communities in the Andes is an equally important part of her research. She has a decade of experience carrying out community-based heritage preservation projects in Peru through Mobilizing Opportunities for Community Heritage Empowerment(MOCHE, Inc.). One of her long-term research goal is to integrate heritage conservation more directly into academic research.
Boswell received her PhD from the University of California, San Diego in 2016. From 2016 –2018 she was the Andrew W. Mellon “Cultures of Conservation” Fellow at Bard Graduate Center and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, and UC San Diego.