Dr. Kirsten Vacca is an anthropological archaeologist. Her research is community-oriented and addresses issues of colonialism, sex and gender, sexuality, and social praxis in Hawai‘i. Dr. Vacca completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in 2019 and her M.A. at Northern Illinois University in 2010.
2019 P.h.D Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley
2010 M.A. Anthropology
Northern Illinois University
2008 B.A. Sociology and Psychology
Graceland University
2020-Present: Assistant Professor of Historical Archaeology
2017-2020 Lecturer, UC Berkeley
2019 Academic Specialist, Berkeley International Student Program
2019 Adjunct Instructor, Sonoma State University
2018-2019 Adjunct Instructor, Holy Names University
2018 Pacific Legacy Inc. Archaeology Technician
2013-2015 Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley
2022-Present University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa
ANTH 471/GEO 472 Field Mapping (Sp 2022, 2024)
2020-Present University of Hawai‘i – West O‘ahu
SSCI 490A/F/486A Anthropology Senior Practicum (Fa 2021, 2023)
ANTH 469 History of Archaeological Thought (Sp 2021)
ANTH 389 Cultural Resource Management (Sp 2022)
ANTH 379 Anthropology and Community-Engaged Research (Sp 2023)
ANTH 366 Anthropology of Science Fiction (Sp 2024)
ANTH 364 Archaeology of Sex and Gender in the Pacific (Fa 2024)
ANTH 363 Archaeology of Sex/Gender and Sexuality (Fa 2021)
ANTH 381 Archaeological Field Techniques (Su 2021, 2023, Sp 2022, 2024)
ANTH 361/SCFS361 Introduction to GIS (Sp 2021, 2023)
ANTH 210 Introduction to Archaeology (Fa 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024)
ANTH 151 Emerging Humanity (Fa 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023; Sp 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
2013-2020 University of California, Berkeley
ANTHRO 124 Hawaiian Ethnology (Spring 2020)
L&S 180AC Archaeology of Sex and Gender (Spring 2013, 2014, 2020)
ANTHRO 2AC Introduction to Archaeology (Fall 2014, 2015, 2019; Summer 2020)
SOCIOL 198 BISP Seminar: Cross-Cultural Learning (Fall 2019)
ANTHRO 1 Introduction to Biological Anthropology (Summer 2019)
GWS 100AC Archaeology of Sex and Gender (Summer 2017, 2018, 2019)
R5B Archaeology of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality (Spring 2016, 2017, 2018)
2019 Sonoma State University
ANTHRO 341 Emergence of Civilizations (Fall 2019)
2018-2019 Holy Names University
SOCI 147/ PSYCH 147 Gender Issues (Fall 2019)
Integrative Studies Across Cultures 2 Premodern World (Spring 2019)
Integrative Studies Across Cultures 1 Ancient World (Fall 2018)
Integrative Studies Across Cultures 195W Gender and Sexuality Senior Colloquium (Fall 2018)
Accepted Vacca, Kirsten G. Blurred Lines: Queering Archaeological Chronological Divisions. In Review by the Journal of Historical Archaeology
2022 Hodara, Rachel and Kirsten G. Vacca. Mapping Keahuamanono Heiau in Haleakalā National Park, Maui, Hawai‘i. Journal of Field Archaeology, 47(1): 54-70. (Published online in September 2021)
2021 Hoggarth, Julie A., Sylvia Batty, Valerie Bondura, Emma Creamer, Claire E. Ebert, Kirsten Green-Mink, C. L. Kieffer, Heidi Miller, C. V. Ngonadi, Suzanne E. Pilaar Birch, Christy Pritchard, Kirsten Vacca, Tia B. Watkins, Emily Zavodny, and Alicia R. Ventresca Miller. Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women and Early Career Archaeologists. Heritage, 4(3): 1681-1702. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4030093
2021 Vacca, Kirsten G. and Michael Kolb. Status and Gender in Hawaiian House Complexes. Society for Hawaiian Archaeology, 15: 47-63.
2020 Miller, M.J., Whelton, H.L., Swift, J.A., Maline, S., Hammann, S., Cramp, L.J., McCleary, A., Taylor, G., Vacca, K., Becks, F. and Evershed, R.P. Interpreting ancient food practices: stable isotope and molecular analyses of visible and absorbed residues from a year-long cooking experiment. Scientific reports, 10(1):1-16.
2023 Vacca, Kirsten. Book Review: Connecting the Kingdom: Sailing Vessels in the Earrly Hawaiian Monarchy, 1790-1840 by Peter Mills. Archaeology in Oceania 0:1-2
2019 Dissertation: “A Question of Design: The Investigation of Space and Structure in Hawaiian Kauhale”
2010 Thesis: “Gender, Social Hierarchy, and the Kapu System in Pre-European Contact Hawaiian House Sites”
Sex/gender and sexuality, Hawaiian history, mo‘olelo, Hawaiian ethnography, built landscape, communities of practice, critical indigenous theory, critical race theory, feminism, community-based participatory research, colonialism and decolonization.
Fellowships:
2016-2017 UC Berkeley Graduate Division Doctoral Completion Fellowship, $18,000
2012-2013 UC Berkeley Anthropology Foster Endowed Fellowship, $13,000
Grants:
2023 NPS CESU Haleakalā
2023 NSF Build and Broaden,
2023 Advanced Grant Writing Course Sponsorship through IRES
2023 IRES Travel Award
2023 SEED Award
2023 IRES UHWO Faculty Grant
2022 BRC Conference Travel
2021 IRES UHWO Faculty Grant
2021 BRC Online Conference Grant
2017 Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant
2017 UC Berkeley Stahl Grant, $1,000 for fieldwork in Hawai‘i
2016 UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender Research Grant for fieldwork in Hawai‘i
2015 UC Berkeley Anthropology Stahl Grant for fieldwork in Hawai‘i
2015 UC Berkeley Graduate Division Travel Grant for participation in conference
2014 UC Berkeley Graduate Division Travel Grant for participation in conference
2014 UC Berkeley Anthropology Lowie-Olson Grant for fieldwork in Hawai‘i
2013 UC Berkeley Archaeology Stahl Grant for fieldwork in Hawai‘i
2013 UC Berkeley Anthropology Lowie-Olson Grant for fieldwork in Hawai‘i
Assistantships:
2012-2018: Graduate Student Instructor, Anthropology, UC Berkeley
2009-2010: Graduate Assistant, Anthropology, UC Berkeley
2008-2010: Graduate Hall Director, Northern Illinois University
2019 Dissertation (Ph.D.): “A Question of Design: The Investigation of Space and Structure in Hawaiian Kauhale”
Household archaeology, community archaeology, sex/gender and sexuality, feminism in archaeology, geoarchaeology,
2010 Thesis (M.A): “Gender, Social Hierarchy, and the Kapu System in Pre-European Contact Hawaiian House Sites”
Presentations:
2024 Vacca, Kirsten. Historical? Post-Contact? Post-Colonial? Industrial?: The Issues with Temporal Categorizations. Paper presented at Society for Historical Archaeology Annual Conference, Oakland, CA.
2024 Vacca, Kirsten (organizer). What is Historical? Session organized for Society for Historical Archaeology Annual Conference, Oakland, CA.
2023 Merritt, Nicole Kau‘i, Christy Mello, and Kirsten Vacca. Best Practices for Experiential Distance Learning With(in) Native Communities. Round table discussion presented at the Engagement Scholarship Consortium Annual Conference, East Lansing, MI.
2023 Vacca, Kirsten Community-Based Participatory Research in Wahi Kupuna Stewardship. Paper presented at the Engagement Scholarship Consortium Annual Conference, East Lansing, MI.
2023 Vacca, Kirsten Kalaeloa Heritage Park: A Community-Based Participatory Research Project. Paper presented at the First Annual Research Conference at UHWO.
2023 Vacca, Kirsten (Discussant). Forum: Advancing the Status of Women in Archaeology. Panel organized for Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, Portland, OR..
2023 Vacca, Kirsten. Collaborative and Equitable Training in Archaeology. Paper presented at Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, Portland, OR.
2023 Vacca, Kirsten and Alexandra McCleary (session organizers). The future of education and training in archaeology. Session organized for Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, Portland, OR.
2023 Baker, Joe and Kirsten Vacca (organizers, discussants). “Where are all the archaeologists?” A forum for collaborative and equitable preparation for a career in resource management. Panel discussion presented at Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, Portland, OR.
2022 Vacca, Kirsten. Community Based Participatory Research in Hawaiian Historical Archaeology. Paper presented at Society for Historical Archaeology Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
2022 Vacca, Kirsten. Community Based Participatory Research in the era of COVID-19. Paper presented at Society for American Archaeology Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
2022 Vacca, Kirsten Collaborative and Equitable Training in Archaeology. Paper presented at the Annual Society for Hawaiian Archaeology Conference, Honolulu.
2021 Vacca, Kirsten and Nick Belluzzo. SHA Anti-Harassment Policy Discussion. Paper presented at the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology Annual Conference, Online.
2021 Vacca, Kirsten. Community-Based Participatory Research in Hawaiian Archaeology. Paper presented at the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology Annual Conference, Online.
2020 (postponed to 2021) Vacca, Kirsten and Katrina Eichner (organizers, discussants) Diverse Expertise: On the importance of multivocality and inclusion in archaeology. Panel discussion submitted for the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas.
2020 Vacca, Kirsten and Katrina Eichner (organizers, discussants) Disrupting Pedagogies: Queer Theory in the Classroom, Field School and Mentoring. Panel discussion accepted for the Society for Historical Archaeology, Boston, Massachusetts.
2019 Vacca, Kirsten. Queer Feminist Science in Hawaiian Archaeology. Paper presented at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
2019 Vacca, Kirsten. The Role of Seminary Schools in the Colonization of Hawaiian Gender Structures. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, St. Charles, Missouri.
2018 Vacca, Kirsten and Lisa Maher. Exploring the interpretive roles of microarchaeology, ethnohistory and ethnoarchaeology for structuring daily life in Pre-Contact Hawaiian houses. Paper presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington D.C.
2018 Vacca, Kirsten. Colonial Impact on Kanaka Maoli Diaspora and Dispersal. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana.
2017 Hodara, Rachel and Kirsten Vacca. Mapping Keahuamanono Heiau in Haleakalā National Park, Maui, Hawai'i. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology, University of West Oahu, Hawai‘i.
2017 Vacca, Kirsten. The construction of archaeological practice: Sex/gender and sexuality on the fringe. Paper presented at 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, BC, Canada
2017 Society for American Archaeology Session Organizer The Social Construction of Archaeology
2016 Vacca, Kirsten. Weaving Household Knowledge: An Update on Kauhale Excavations in Nu‘u, Maui. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology, University of Hawai‘i Maui College, Kahului, HI.
2016 Vacca, Kirsten. Let the Memory Live Again: Creation and Recreation of Hawaiian Households. Paper presented at 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida.
2016 Vacca, Kirsten and Dee Malcuit. Historical Western Construction of Hawaiian “Bottomhood”. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Hawai‘i Sociological Association, Hilo, Hawai‘i.
2015 Vacca, Kirsten. Social interaction through structured use of space in the early Hawaiian Household. Paper presented at 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California.
2015 Vacca, Kirsten. Blurred Lines: Queering the Divide between Prehistoric and Historic Archaeology. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Seattle, Washington.
2014 Vacca, Kirsten. Weaving household knowledge through time. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology, University of Hawai‘i, Hilo, Hawai‘i.
2014 Vacca, Kirsten. Let the Memory Live Again: Creation and Recreation of Hawaiian Households. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Theoretical Archaeology Group, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne, Illinois.
2014 Vacca, Kirsten. Hers, His, or Theirs: The Archaeology of Gendered Spaces in Hawaiian Houses. Paper presented at the Annual Graduate Student Conference of Thinking Gender, Center for the Study of Women, UCLA, California.
Lectures:
2019 Vacca, Kirsten The Histories and Cultures of Polynesia. University of California, Berkeley: Invited lecture for Integrative Biology 158LF Biology and Geomorphology of Tropical Islands.
2018 Vacca, Kirsten. A Question of Design: Social Construction in Hawaiian Kauhale. UCB: Archaeology Department Brownbag.
2018 Vacca, Kirsten. Intersectionality and the Feminist Movement. Holy Names University: Invited lecture for comparative cross cultures course.
2018 Vacca, Kirsten. Polynesian Diaspora. Holy Names University: Invited lecture for comparative cross cultures course.
2016 Vacca, Kirsten. Recovering and Interpreting the Evidence: A Hawaiian Case Study. Holy Names University: Invited lecture for comparative cross cultures course.
2016 Vacca, Kirsten. Sex/Gender Constructs in 15th-18th century Hawai‘i. UCB: Invited Guest Lecture in Anthropology Sophomore Seminar.
2016 Vacca, Kirsten. A Question of Design: Interpreting a Hawaiian Kauhale. UCB: Archaeology Departmental Brownbag.
2016 Vacca, Kirsten. Integrating Archaeological Evidence on the Origins of Sociopolitical Complexity in the Holocene. UCB: Archaeology Departmental Brownbag.
2015 Vacca, Kirsten. Ancestral Hawaiian Households: Recovering and Interpreting the Data. UCB: Archaeology Departmental Brownbag.
2014 Vacca, Kirsten. Recovering and Interpreting the Evidence: A Hawaiian Case Study. UCB: Invited Guest Lecture in Intro to Archaeology.
2014 Vacca, Kirsten. Sex and Gender in Pre-European Contact Hawai‘i. UCB: Invited Guest Lecture in Archaeology of Sex and Gender.
2014 Vacca, Kirsten. Gender Constructs in Early Hawai‘i. UCB: Invited Guest Lecture Anthropology Freshman Seminar.
2013 Vacca, Kirsten. Pacific Archaeology: Documentation and Publication—Do We See What They See? UCB: Invited lecturer for Museum Studies Brownbag Lecture Series.
2013 Vacca, Kirsten. A Complex Situation: Excavations at a Hawaiian Kauhale. UCB: Archaeology Departmental Brownbag.
Workshops:
2013-2018 Workshop Leader for Biannual GSI Conference
2018 Selbin, Jesse, Krishan Aghi and Kirsten Vacca. Working with Student Writing. UCB: Workshop through the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center.
2018 Vacca, Kirsten. Non-Quantitative Social Science Discipline Cluster Workshop. UCB: Annual Conference of the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center.
2017 Vacca, Kirsten. Non-Quantitative Social Science Discipline Cluster Workshop. UCB: Annual Conference of the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center.
2017 Vacca, Kirsten. Non-Quantitative Social Science Discipline Cluster Workshop. UCB: Annual Conference of the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center.
2017 Selbin, Jesse, Krishan Aghi and Kirsten Vacca. Working with Student Writing. UCB: Workshop through the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center.
2016 Vacca, Kirsten. Non-Quantitative Social Science Discipline Cluster Workshop. UCB: Annual Conference of the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center.
2015 Vacca, Kirsten. Non-Quantitative Social Science Discipline Cluster Workshop. UCB: Annual Conference of the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center.
2014 Vacca, Kirsten. Practice Teaching Session. UCB: Annual International Student Conference of the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center.
2013 Vacca, Kirsten. Practice Teaching Session. UCB: Annual International Student Conference of the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center.
2020 Society for Historical Archaeology Workshop: The Dating Game: Identifying Historic Ceramics
2018 GSI Teaching and Resource Center Workshop: Enhancing Student Participation
2018 GSI Teaching and Resource Center Workshop: Creating and Using Grading Rubrics
2018 GSI Teaching and Resource Center Workshop: Peer Exchange and Feedback on Statements of Teaching Philosophy
2018 GSI Teaching and Resource Center Workshop: Developing a Statement of Teaching Philosophy and Teaching Portfolio
2014 GSI Teaching and Resource Center Workshop: Syllabus Course Design
2014 GSI Teaching and Resource Center Workshop: How Students Learn
2013 Total Station Workshop, University of California, Berkeley
2012 ArcMap GIS Workshop, University of California, Berkeley
2012 GSI Teaching and Resource Center Teaching Conference
Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA)
2016 Member of the Hawai‘i Sociological Association
2015-Present Member of the Society for Historical Archaeology
2012-Present Member of the Society for American Archaeology
2011-Present Member of the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology
2012 Member of the American Anthropological Association
2023-Present UHWO Curriculum Committee
2021-Present UHWO Student Affairs Committee
2021-Present UHWO Faculty Senate
2021-Present Chair, Society for Hawaiian Archaeology Standards and Ethics Committee
2018-Present Committee for the Status of Women in Archaeology, Society for American Archaeology (Chair from 2023-Present)
2018 Vacca, Kirsten and Nicholas Tripcevich. Total Station Training with Magnet Field. Archaeological Research Facility, U.C. Berkeley.
2016 Vacca, Kirsten and Nicholas Tripcevich. Total Station Training with Magnet Field. Archaeological Research Facility, U.C. Berkeley.
2015 Vacca, Kirsten and Nicholas Tripcevich. Total Station Training with SSF/Magnet Field. Archaeological Research Facility, U.C. Berkeley.
2015 Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting Volunteer
2013 Annual Meeting for Society for California Public Day Archaeology Volunteer, Berkeley, CA
2009-2010 Northern Illinois University Student Affairs Committee: Judicial Board, Academic Year
2009-2010 Northern Illinois University Student Affairs Committee: Project Red Diversity Program
2008-2009 Northern Illinois University Student Affairs Committee: Last Bash campus-wide program
2008-2009 Northern Illinois University Student Affairs Committee: Green Scene campus-wide program