archaeology of plastics
The Plastic Artifact Biography Project | A pilot STEAM-project and partnership with 5th grade classes at Miami Beach South Pointe Elementary School. This project involved five separate “interactions”: an introductory lecture, beach cleanup, research activity, storytelling exercise, and poster & video presentations. Interactions took place from January to May 2025.
As a precursor to this project, in 2020, I had the opportunity to work with SPE students to fabricate an wall mural crafted from bottle caps. You can find photos of the project here.
Miami Children’s Environmental Congress | Organized annually by Planet Patrol and hosted by Aguamarina Elementary School. Students representing some 20 schools from across Miami convene for the two-day event. For the Congress, I created problem-solving and interactive workshops geared toward children aged 8 to 13 years.
15-16 Feb 2024 … Crafting Artifact Biographies
10-11 Apr 2025 … Screening for Microplastics
The Archaeology of Plastics | A seminar offered at the University of Miami. In this class, students use archaeology to understand the impact, for better and worse, that synthetic polymers have had on the planet and people. Here you can find the most recent syllabus (from spring 2025) as well as the playlist, art work & poems that students have created over the years. In spring 2024, UMiami’s News@TheU did a feature on the class, which you can read here.
Writings | Here’s a recent scholarly publication from the Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and Plastics and essays in The New York Times and Slate.
