Guido Pezzarossi

Associate Professor and Undergraduate Director, Anthropology Department

Director, Program on Latin America and the Caribbean

Courses

2024 Fall
- ANT 470 Experience Credit
- ANT 495 Research for Distinction in Anthropology
- ANT 343 The Maya: Ancient and Modern
2024 Spring
- ANT/HST 145 Archaeology of and in the Modern World
- ANT 496 Distinction in Anthropology
- ANT 470 Experience Credit
2023 Fall
- ANT 345 Cyborgs, Aliens & Other Worlds
- ANT 495 Research for Distinction in Anthropology
- ANT 343 The Maya: Ancient and Modern
2023 Spring
- ANT 496 Distinction in Anthropology
- ANT 131 Introduction to Biological Anthropology
2022 Fall
- ANT 438/638 Beyond the Biological Need to Eat: The Archaeology of Food
- ANT 345 Cyborgs, Aliens & Other Worlds
- ANT 495 Research for Distinction in Anthropology
2022 Spring
- ANT/HST 145 Archaeology of and in the Modern World
- ANT 496 Distinction in Anthropology
- ANT 448/648 Imperial Remains: The Archaeology of Colonialism

Highest degree earned

Ph.D., Stanford University, 2014

Graduate Student Dissertation Title

A new materialist archaeology of antimarkets, power and capitalist effects in colonial Guatemala, 2014

Bio

My research is centered on using archaeology to better understand the entanglements between colonialism and capitalism and more thoroughly reconstruct the diverse assemblage of human and nonhuman actors that comprised early modern colonial contexts in the New World. The regional focus of my research spans Spanish colonial contexts in Guatemala and English colonial contexts in Massachusetts, providing a global comparative perspective on the diverse processes of colonization and their effects on colonial populations, both native and settler.

I draw on a variety of theoretical approaches in my work, including postcolonial, practice and new materialist theories. I am particularly interested in exploring the intersection of seemingly incompatible approaches, namely postcolonial and new materialist/posthuman theoretical perspectives, as part of crafting a more inclusive, holistic theoretical framework that is positioned to better account for the wide variety of influences, motivations and causes (both human and nonhuman) driving the unfolding of colonial encounters.

Areas of Expertise

Archaeology of colonialism, historical anthropology, postcolonial theory, new materialism, archaeology of food

Research Grant Awards and Projects

"WORI Tree Planting Archeology", Sponsored by Women's Rights National Historical Park.

"LiDAR, GPR and Mapping on Dominica", Sponsored by National Science Foundation - Archaeology Division.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles
- Pezzarossi, G., "Beyond the Grid of Labor Control: Salvaged, Persisting and Leaky Assemblages in Colonial Guatemala." International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2020.
- Pezzarossi, G., Kennedy, R., "Assemblages of Production: Capitalist Colonial Labor Regimes and Other Economic Practices in Highland Guatemala." Pezzarossi, G. (ed.) Historical Archaeology, 2019.
- Pezzarossi, G., "Introduction: Rethinking the Archaeology of Capitalism." Pezzarossi, G. (ed.) Historical Archaeology, 2019.
- "Rethinking the Archaeology of Capitalism: Coercion, Violence, and Accumulation." Pezzarossi, G. (ed.) Historical Archaeology, 2019.
- Corcoran-Tad, N., Pezzarossi, G., "Between the South Sea and the Mountainous Ridges: Biopolitical Assemblages in the Spanish Colonial Americas." Horning, A., Mrozowski, S. (eds.) Journal of Post-Medieval Archaeology, 2018.
- Pezzarossi, G., "Camouflaging Consumption and Colonial Mimicry: The Materiality of a Colonial Nipmuc Household." International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2014.
Book Chapters
- Pezzarossi, G., "Discursive Violence and Archaeological Ruptures: Archaeologies of Colonialism and Narrative Privilege in Highland Guatemala." In Violence and Privilege. Phillipi, B., Matthews, C. (eds.) University of New Mexico Press, 2020.
- Pezzarossi, G., "Forum Response." In Violence and Privilege. Phillipi, B., Matthews, C. (eds.) University of New Mexico Press, 2020.
- Pezzarossi, G., "From Cacao to Sugar: Long-Term Maya Economic Entanglement in Colonial Guatemala." In Long-term Indigenous Entanglement in the Colonial World. Law Pezzarossi, H. B., Sheptak, R. (eds.) University of New Mexico Press, 2019.
- Pezzarossi, G., "Rethinking Colonial Maya Peripherality: Colonial Frictions, Salvaged Value and the Production of Modernity in Highland Guatemala." In Power, Political Economy and Historical Landscapes of the Modern World: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. DeCorse, C. (ed.) SUNY Press, 2019.
- Pezzarossi, G., "Porous Walls and Possessive Structures: British Forts and Networks of the Early Modern World." In British Forts and their Communities: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives. DeCorse, C., Beier, Z. (eds.) University Press of Florida, 2018.
- Pezzarossi, G., "“confites, melcochas y otras golosinas que son dañinas para la salud”: Sugar, Alcohol, and Biopolitics in Colonial Guatemala." In Substance and Seduction: Ingested Commodities in Colonial Mesoamerica, the Atlantic World, and Beyond). Sampeck, K., Schwartzkopf, S. (eds.) University of Texas Press, 2017.
- Pezzarossi, G., "A Spectral Haunting of Society: Longue Duree Archaeologies of Capitalism and Antimarkets in Colonial Guatemala." In Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism, Second Edition. Leone, M., Knauf, J. (eds.) Springer, 2015.
Book Reviews
- Pezzarossi, G., Rojas, V., "Archaeology of Early Colonial Interaction at El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba." Historical Archaeologist, 2018.
- Pezzarossi, G., Arcangeli, M., "Sherds of History: Domestic Life in Colonial Guadeloupe." American Anthropologist, 2016.
Technical Reports
- Pezzarossi, G., Montejo, M., Proyecto Arqueológico Colonial Parramos, Pueblo Viejo Parramos: Informe Anual No. 1 Primera Temporada 2017. , 2017.
- Mrozowski, S., Law Pezzarossi, H. B., Piechota, D., Trigg, H., J., Pezzarossi, G., Bagley, J., Rymer, J. and Warner, J., The Archaeology of Hassanamesit Woods: The Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston Farmstead. , 2015.
- Pezzarossi, G., Escobar, L., Proyecto Arqueológico San Pedro Aguacatepeque, Alotenango; Informe Preliminar no.2, Segunda Temporada 2011. , 2012.
- Pezzarossi, G., Escobar, L., Proyecto Arqueológico San Pedro Aguacatepeque, Alotenango. Informe Preliminar no.1, Primera Temporada 2010. , 2011.
- Law Pezzarossi, H. B., Pezzarossi, G. and Mrozowski, S., Archaeological Intensive Excavation: Hassanamesit Woods Property, The Sarah Boston Farmstead, Grafton, Massachusetts. , 2007.
- Law Pezzarossi, H. B., Pezzarossi, G. and Mrozowski, S., Archaeological Intensive Excavation Interim Report: Hassanamesit Woods Property, The Sarah Boston Farmstead, Grafton, Massachusetts. , 2006.

Presentations and Events

Pezzarossi, G., Emerson, P., Society for American Archaeology, "Technologies of Surveillance, Technologies of Care? Colonial Census, Biopolitics, and Networks of Surveillance in Southern Guatemala " (April, 2024)

"Thinking with, through, and against Archaeology's Politics of Knowledge" (April, 2024)

Society for Historical Archaeology, "Historical and Contemporary Archaeology as Border Thinking? Coloniality, Materialisms and Survivance in Guatemala’s Colonial and Recent Pasts" (January, 2024)

University of Rochester, "Beyond the Grid of Labor Control: Salvaged, Persisting and Leaky Assemblages in Colonial Guatemala" (April 24, 2019)

CIAMS Lecture Series, Cornell University, "Beyond the Grid of Labor Control: Salvaged, Persisting and Leaky Assemblages in Colonial Guatemala" (April 18, 2019)

Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) North America Conference, TAG Syracuse (“Slow Archaeology”) Organizing Committee (2019)

CNY Humanities Corridor Historical Studies Working Group, "Slow Historical Studies" (2018 - 2019)