Dr. Matthew Walker Magnani
Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maine
and Digital Curator at the Sámiid Vuorká-Dávvirat
(The Sámi Museum in Karasjok)
Ph.D., Harvard University, 2021
M.A., Harvard University, 2017
M.A., University of Pennsylvania, 2014
B.A., Binghamton University, 2012
Professional Interests:
Matthew Magnani is an anthropological archaeologist and ethnographer. Broadly concerned with elucidating the changing shape of social inequality through an application of multi-temporal perspectives to materiality, his work spans the Arctic (Sápmi) to East Africa (Maasailand), from prehistory to present. His current scholarship addresses the exploration of new digital technologies to facilitate Indigenous reconnection with cultural heritage, the archaeological exploration of his own family history, and big data approaches to material culture (e.g., mapping mask production across the pandemic in the US).
Representative Publications:
(2022) Magnani, M., Clindaniel, J., and Magnani, N. Material Culture Studies in the Age of Big Data: Digital Excavation of Homemade Face-Mask Production during the COVID-19 Pandemic. American Antiquity, in press.
(2022) Li L., Lin, S., Abdolahzadeh, A., Chan, A., Dogandžić, T., Iovita, R., Leader, G.M., Magnani, M., Rezek, S., McPherron, S.P., Dibble, H.L. A Synthesis of the Dibble et al. Experiments on the Mechanics of Lithic Production. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, in press.
(2022) Magnani, N., Magnani, M. Decolonizing Production: Healing, Belonging and Social Change in Sápmi. Current Anthropology 63 (4): 386-406.
(2022) Magnani, M., Magnani, N., Venovcevs, A., Farstadvoll, S. A Contemporary Archaeology of Pandemic. Journal of Social Archaeology 22 (1): 48-81.
(2021) Magnani, M., Venovcevs, A., Farstadvoll, S., Magnani, N. How to Record Current Events like an Archaeologist. Advances in Archaeological Practice 9 (4): 379-386.
(2020) Magnani, M., Douglass, M., Schroder, W. Reeves, J., Braun, D. The Digital Revolution to Come: Photogrammetry in Archaeological Practice. American Antiquity 85 (4): 737-760.
(2020) McPherron, S.P., Abdolahzadeh, A., Archer, W., Chan, A., Djakovic, I., Dogandžić, T., Leader, G., Li, L., Lin, S., Magnani, M., Reeves, J., Rezek., Z., Weiss, M. Introducing Platform Surface Interior Angle (PSIA) and Its Role in Flake Formation, Size and Shape. PLOS ONE 15 (11): e0241714.
(2020) Magnani, N., Magnani M. Material Methods for a Rapid-Response Anthropology. Social Anthropology 28 (2): 312-314.
(2019) Magnani, M., Grindle, D., Loomis, S., Kim, A.M., Egbers, V., Clindaniel, J., Hartford, A., Johnson, E., Weber, S., Campbell, W. Experimental Futures in Archaeology. Antiquity 93 (369): 262-263.
(2019) Magnani, M., Grindle, D., Loomis, S., Kim, A.M., Egbers, V., Clindaniel, J., Hartford, A., Johnson, E., Weber, S., Campbell, W. Evaluating Claims for an Early Peopling of the Americas: Experimental Design and the Cerutti Mastodon Site. Antiquity 93 (369): 789-795.
(2019) Magnani, M., Magnani, N., Guttorm, A. Accessibility, Authenticity and the Ethics of Digital Representation: A Reply to Galeazzi. Current Anthropology 60 (2): 262-263.
(2018) Magnani, M., Guttorm, A., Magnani, N. Three-Dimensional, Community-Based Heritage Management of Indigenous Museum Collections: Archaeological Ethnography, Revitalization and Repatriation at the Sámi Museum Siida. Journal of Cultural Heritage 31:162-169.
(2018) Magnani, M., Magnani, N. Archaeological Ethnography of an Indigenous Movement: Revitalization and Production in a Skolt Sámi Community. Journal of Social Archaeology 18(1):3-29.
(2018) Magnani, M., Douglass, M. Photogrammetry and Stereophotogrammetry. SAS Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.
(2017) Douglass, M., Kuhnel, D., Magnani, M., Hittner, L., Chodoronek M., Porter S. Community Outreach, Digital Heritage and Private Collections: A Case Study from the North American Great Plains. World Archaeology: 1-16.
(2016) Magnani M., Douglass, M., Porter S. Closing the Seams: Resolving Frequently Encountered Issues in Photogrammetric Modeling. Antiquity 90(354): 1654-1669.
(2015) Magnani, M., Schroder, W. New Approaches to Modeling the Volume of Earthen Archaeological Features: A Case Study from the Hopewell Culture Mounds. Journal of Archaeological Science 64:12-21.
(2014) Magnani, M. Three-Dimensional Alternatives to Lithic Illustration. Advances in Archaeological Practice 2(4): 285-297.
(2014) Magnani, M., Rezek, J., Lin, S., Chan, A., Dibble, H. L. Flake Variation in Relation to the Application of Force. Journal of Archaeological Science 46:37-49.
Contact:
Email: matthew.magnani@maine.edu
Department of Anthropology
5773 South Stevens Hall
University of Maine
Orono, Maine 04469-5773 USA
207-581-1891
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