Biography
I am an anthropological archaeologist with academic and applied experience in historical archaeology, historic preservation, and cultural heritage. I hold a Masters in Historic Preservation (2016) and a PhD in Anthropology (2019) from the University of Maryland. With support from the US National Science Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies fellow, I have examined the social and built environments of coal mining company towns in Appalachia.
I am the experienced researcher in the project, ‘Spatial and Critical Approaches to Industrial Heritage Landscapes’ (SCAIHL), hosted at the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Research
My research examines issues pertaining to identity, landscapes, and adaptation within industrial communities in the past and the present. My current project, Spatial and Critical Approaches to Industrial heritage Landscapes, adopts a comparative approach to post-coal mining landscapes in the US, the UK, and Germany in order to understand the relationship between coal mining heritage and modern political movements.
Key Publications
Westmont, V. Camille (editor)
2022. Critical Public Archaeology: Confronting Social Challenges in the 21st Century. Berghahn: New York. doi.org/10.3167/9781800736153
Westmont, V. Camille
2022. Dark Heritage in the New South: Remembering Convict Leasing in Southern Middle Tennessee through Community Archaeology. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 26 (1): 1-21. doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00592-w
2022. Social Engineering at the Company Home Hearth: Coal Company Use of Architecture to Control Domestic Spaces in the Pennsylvania Anthracite Region, 1866-1889. Historical Archaeology 56 (1): 782-803. doi.org/10.1007/s41636-022-00380-1
2021. Assessing the Adaptive Resilience of Twentieth Century Post-industrial Fishing Landscapes in Siglufjörður, Iceland. Landscape Research 46 (5): 693-712. doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2021.1884850
2020. Faux Materials and Aspirational Identity: Celluloid Combs and Working Class Dreams in the Pennsylvania Anthracite Region. Journal of Material Culture 25 (1): 93-107. doi.org/10.1177%2F1359183519858377
Westmont, V. Camille, & Clay, Elizabeth
2022. “Introduction: Current Directions in Community Archaeology of the African Diaspora.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 26 (1): 195-210. doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00631-6
