I am an anthropological archaeologist who investigates the past to understand food sovereignty and environmental justice in the present.

Most of my research takes place in the northern Maya lowlands of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. In the last few years, I documented long-term patterns in ancient Maya farming life at the Tzacauil archaeological site, located in the community landholding of Yaxunah, Yucatán. In studying Tzacauil's landscape as an archive of 2000 years of Maya farmers' collective decisions, this work lends critical historical context to the ways more recent trends - neoliberal agrarian reform, celebrity chef culture, and ecotourism - impact Indigenous food sovereignty. I'm looking forward to continuing a program of community-engaged archaeology in Yaxunah as I shift to studying the historical entanglements of globalized industrial food in Mexico and the U.S.

I'm currently an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at Washington and Lee University - located on the traditional lands of the Monacan People - where I teach courses in the environmental humanities. I can be contacted at cfisher@wlu.edu.