Sonya Atalay

Sonya Atalay
Born	Sonya Lynn Atalay
Occupation	Public anthropological archaeologist
Title	Professor
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Michigan (BA) University of California Berkeley (MA, PhD)
Thesis	Domesticating clay: Engaging with ‘they’. The social life of clay balls from Çatalhöyük, Turkey and public archaeology for indigenous communities (2003)
Doctoral advisor	Ruth Tringham
Academic work
Discipline	Archaeology
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Website	anthropology.mit.edu/people/faculty/sonya-atalay

Sonya Lynn Atalay is an anthropological archaeologist noted for her research into Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS); applying community-based research, working with Indigenous Peoples in order to develop a deeper understanding into community-based protection and management of cultural sites. Atalay has contributed to her field through numerous publications and research projects and through her role as a public figure and professor of anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Education

Sonya Atalay studied a B.A. in Anthropology and Classical Archaeology at the University of Michigan in 1991, followed by an M.A. in Anthropology at the University of California Berkeley in 1998. In 2003, Atalay went on to complete her PhD in Anthropology at the same institution for work on Çatalhöyük supervised by Ruth Tringham.

Career

Her publications include

• 2024 Repatriation as Pedagogy. Co-authored with Jane Anderson. Current Anthropology 63(5).
• 2022 The Community-Based PhD (co-edited with Alexandra McCleary). University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
• 2020 Archaeologies of the Heart. (co-edited with Kisha Supernant, Jane Baxter, and Natasha Lyons). Springer Press, New York.
• 2020 Indigenous Knowledge in Dangerous Times: Research Partnerships, Knowledge Mobilization, and Public Engagement. Public Archaeology 18.
• 2022 Introduction. Co-authored with Alexandra McCleary. In The Community-Based PhD, edited by Sonya Atalay and Alexandra McCleary. p. 5-12. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
• 2022 Complexities, Triumphs, Missteps, and Joys of Conducting Community-based PhD Research: What we Learn from Graduate Student Experiences. In The Community-Based PhD, edited by Sonya Atalay and Alexandra McCleary. Ch. 30, p. 453--470. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
• 2020 Archaeology led by Strawberries. In Archaeologies of the Heart, edited by Kisha Supernant, Jane Baxter, Natasha Lyons, and Sonya Atalay, Chapter 16, p.253-269. Springer Press, New York, NY.
• 2019 Can Archaeology Help Decolonize the Way Institutions Think? How Community-Based Research is Transforming the Archaeology Training Toolbox and How that Toolbox Can Help Transform Institutions. Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress 15(3):514-535.
• 2019 Ethno/Graphic Storytelling: Communicating Research and Exploring Pedagogical Approaches through Graphic Narratives, Drawings, and Zines. American Anthropologist 121(3): 769-772 by Sonya Atalay, Letizia Bonanno, Sally Campbell Galman, Sarah Jacqz, Ryan Rybka, Jen Shannon, Cary Speck, John Swogger, Erica Wolencheck
• 2019 Completing the Journey: A Graphic Narrative about NAGPRA and Repatriation. Multimodal Anthropologies Aug 19, 2019. http://www.americananthropologist.org/2019/08/19/ethno-graphic-storytelling/
• 2019 Braiding Strands of Wellness: How Repatriation Contributes to Healing through Embodied Practice and Storywork. Public Historian 41(1): 78-89.
• 2012 Community-Based Archaeology: Research With, By and For Indigenous and Local Communities. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Awards and honours

Her awards and honours include

• 2023 Chancellor’s Medal Recipient, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 2022 American Anthropological Association, Patty Jo Watson Distinguished Lecture Award
• 2021 Named first UMass Amherst ‘Provost Professor’
• 2021 Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, UMass Amherst Graduate School
• 2020 Chancellor’s Leadership Fellowship (partnered with Deputy Chancellor to develop UMass Office of Community-Based Research
• 2011 Indiana State Senate Commendation acknowledging community-based research with Sullivan County American Indian Council to develop Interpretive Heritage Trail
• 2010 Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award