Pamela L. Geller

Pamela L. Geller is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Miami. Over the years, she has conducted fieldwork in Hawaii, Belize, Honduras, Perú, and Haiti. Her intellectual interests include archaeology and bioarchaeology, feminist and queer studies, materiality of identity, the sociopolitics of the past, and bioethics. Based on her research, she has authored several books: The Bioarchaeology of Social-Sexual Lives (2017), Theorizing Bioarchaeology (2021), and Becoming Object: The Sociopolitics of the Samuel George Morton Cranial Collection (2024). Edited volumes include Feminist Anthropology: Past, Present, and Future (2006) and The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Anthropology (2025).

More recently, she has wondered, “What does it mean to be human in an age of unprecedented anthropogenic impact on this planet?” The question is a longstanding one for anthropology; it seeks to address how the human condition shifts with technological innovation and socioeconomic interaction, as was the case during the Neolithic or Industrial Revolutions. Yet rather than look to ancient periods, she is undertaking an archaeology of the contemporary that focuses on plastics as material culture in the 21st century. She is particularly intrigued by the cultural maladaptability, ontological and biophysical implications, and future history of plastics. On this subject, her writings have appeared in scholarly publications and mainstream ones, such as Slate, Miami Herald, and The New York Times.

Geller currently serves as the Specialty Chief Editor of Human Bioarchaeology and Paleopathology for the open-access journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology. She is also Series Editor for “Archaeology of Gender and Sexuality,” a book series with Routledge Press. Feel free to reach out with questions about submitting proposals or publications to either forum.