Postdoctoral Fellow in Historical Archaeology
B.A., University of Kentucky; M.A., University of Maryland - Historic Preservation; M.A., University of Maryland - Applied Anthropology; Ph.D., University of Maryland
vcwestmo@sewanee.edu
Camille Westmont is a historical archaeologist and historic preservationist who teaches courses on anthropology, archaeology, and history at Sewanee. She received her doctorate in anthropology from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2019. She has previously worked for US/ICOMOS, the National Park Service, and the Historic American Building Survey and has carried out research in the United States, Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, Mexico, Peru, Sweden, and Iceland.
Dr. Westmont uses material culture and archival documents to understand the experiences of the working classes in current and former industrial communities. Her dissertation research examined the experiences of working class families in 19th and 20th century northeastern Pennsylvania coal company towns. She used archaeologically recovered artifacts, archival documents, oral histories, and architectural data to discuss the roles that women played in these male-dominated spaces. A book based on this research is currently under review with the University of Tennessee Press.
Today, Dr. Westmont directs the Tennessee Convict Stockade Project, which uses archaeology and archival research to examine the history of convict leasing in southern middle Tennessee. She is currently leading archaeological excavations at the site of the Lone Rock Stockade, a late 19th century convict labor stockade located in Grundy County, Tennessee. Through this work, she aims to increase awareness of Southern convict leasing as a form of post-Emancipation enslavement and to achieve recognition for the thousands of African American and white individuals who were ensnared by the convict lease system.
Dr. Westmont is heavily involved in public archaeology and cultural heritage. Her work has been published in the Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage, Practicing Anthropology, Historical Archaeology, and the Journal of Material Culture. She has received financial support from the National Science Foundation, the Leifur Eiriksson Foundation, the Archaeological Institute of America, and the Society for Architectural Historians, among others.
