Kristina Douglass studies how people and land- and seascapes coevolve. She is assistant professor of anthropology at Penn State University, cofunded through the Institutes for Energy and the Environment, and is a Smithsonian Institution research associate. Her work is grounded in collaborations with local, Indigenous, and descendant communities as equal partners in the coproduction of science, and the preservation of place-based, intergenerational knowledge. Douglass and her collaborators aim to contribute long-term perspectives on human-environment interactions to public debates, planning, and policymaking on the issues of climate change, adaptation, and sustainability.
Since 2011, Douglass has directed the Morombe Archaeological Project (MAP), based in the Velondriake Marine Protected Area of southwest Madagascar. This territory is stewarded by diverse communities, including Vezo fishers, Mikea foragers, and Masikoro herders. The MAP is anchored at Penn State to the Olo Be Taloha Lab for African Environmental Archaeology, which Douglass also directs. Douglass is a partner, mother, singer, dancer, Capoeirista, SCUBA diver, horseback rider, and gardener, all of which intersect in essential ways with her work as an archaeologist.
Her project “Building an Inclusive Archaeology of Climate Change Integrating Indigenous Knowledge,” develops inclusive approaches to documenting climate change and human adaptation centered in Indigenous knowledge and collaboration between southwest Malagasy communities, researchers, and policymakers.
