Suzanne Spencer-Wood

Professor of Anthropology
Associate at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University
445 Varner
(248) 370-2503
[email protected]

Research Interests
Feminist theory in anthropology and archaeology, nonlinear systems theory, archaeological theory and method, feminist historical archaeology, historical archaeology of class, ethnicity, market access and settlement, industrial archaeology and cultural resource management

Selected Publications

Burke, Clare and Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood, Editors. 2018. Crafting in the World: Materiality in the Making. New York: Springer.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2014.. European Gardens of Love: Feminist Perspectives. In Will Meyer (Ed). Engendering Landscape and Landscaping Gender (in press). Buffalo: University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2014. Sexuality: Classical World. In Patricia Whelehan and Anne Bolin (Eds), The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality (in press, peer reviewed). Malden, Oxford: John Wiley and Sons.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2014.  The Archaeology of Childhood. In Heather Montgomery (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in ChildhoodStudies (in press).

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2013.  Nonlinear Systems Theory, Feminist Theory, and Post-Processual Archaeology. Journal of Archaeology. Vol. 1: : article ID 540912, 15 pages.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M., (Ed.) 2013. Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Gender Transformations: From Private to Public.  New York: Springer.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. and Stacey Camp. 2013. Introduction to Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Gender Transformations: From Private to Public. In S.M. Spencer-Wood (Ed.), Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Gender Transformations: From Private to Public. (Pp.1-22). New York: Springer. 

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2013. Western Gender Transformations from the Eighteenth Century to the Early Twentieth Century:  Combining the Domestic and Public Spheres. In S.M. Spencer-Wood (Ed.), Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Gender Transformations: From Private to Public. ( Pp. 173-214). New York: Springer.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2013. Commentary: How Feminist Theories Increase Our Understanding of Processes of Gender Transformation. In S.M. Spencer-Wood (Ed.) Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Gender Transformations: From Private to Public. (Pp. 391-425). New York: Springer.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2012. 1600s Consumption, World. In Carl A. Zimring and William L. Rathje (Eds), Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2012. 1700s Consumption, World. In Carl A. Zimring and William L. Rathje (Eds), Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M.. 2011. Introduction: Feminist Theories in Archaeology. Archaeologies 7(1): 1-33. (In Special Issue: The Impact of Feminist Theories on Archaeology, guest co-edited by Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood and Laurajane Smith.)

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne. 2011. Commentary: How Feminist Theory Increases Our Understanding of the Archaeology of Poverty. Historical Archaeology, 45(3):183-93.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M.. 2010.  Gendered Power Dynamics Between Religious Sects, Ethnic Groups and Classes in Jewish Communities on Boston’s Landscape, 1840-1936. In S.B. Baugher and S. Spencer-Wood (Eds.), The Archaeology and Preservation of Gendered Landscapes (pp. 198-2320), Springer.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M.. 2010.  A Feminist Framework for Analyzing Powered Cultural Landscapes in Historical Archaeology. International Journal of Historical Archaeology. 14(4):498-527.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M.. 2009. Feminist Theory and the Historical Archaeology of Institutions. In A.M. Biesaw and J.G. Gibb (Eds.), The Archaeology of Institutional Life (pp. 33-49), University of Alabama Press.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2007. Feminist Theory and Gender Research in Historical Archaeology. In S.M. Nelson (Ed.), Women in Antiquity: Theoretical Approaches to Gender and Archaeology,(pp. 29-74), Walnut Creek: Altamira Press. Reprinted from The Handbook of Gender in Archaeology, edited by Sarah Nelson. Pp. 295-330. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, 2006.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2007. The World Their Household: Changing Meanings of the Domestic Sphere in the Nineteenth Century. In Housing and Dwelling: Perspective on Modern Domestic Architecture, edited by Barbara M. Lane, pp. 32-40, 163-78. Routledge, Abingdon, UK. Reprinted in two sections from single book chapter published in 1999 in The Archaeology of Household Activities, edited by Penelope M. Allison. Pp. 162-89. Routledge, London.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2006. Feminist Gender Research in Classical Archaeology. In S.M. Nelson (Ed.) The Handbook of Gender in Archaeology (pp. 295-332). Walnut Creek: Altamira

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2006 . A Feminist Theoretical Approach to the Historical Archaeology of Utopian Communities. Historical Archaeology 40(1): 152-85.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2005. “Feminist Boundary Crossings: Challenging Androcentric Assumptions and Stereotypes about Hideworking," in L. Frank and K. Weedman (Eds.), Gender and Hide Production (pp. 197-215), Altamira Press.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2004. “A Historic Pay-for-Housework Community Household: The Cambridge Cooperative Housekeeping Society," in K. Barrile and J. Brandon (Eds.), Household Chores and Household Choices: Theorizing the Domestic Sphere in Historical Archaeology (pp. 138-158), University of Alabama Press.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2003. Gendering the Creation of Green Urban landscapes in America at the Turn of the Century. In Shared Spaces and Divided Places. Material Dimensions of Gender Relations and the American Historical Landscape, edited by D.L. Rotman and E. Savulis. Pp. 24-61. Knoxville, U. of Tennessee Press.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2002. Utopian Visions and Architectural Designs of Turn-of-the-century Social Settlements. In Embodied Utopias: Gender, Social Change and the Modern Metropolis, edited by Amy Bingaman, Lise Sanders and Rebecca Zorach. Pp. 116-32. Routledge, London.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. and Sherene Baugher. 2001. Introduction and Historical Context of the  Archaeology of Institutions of Reform. Part I: Asylums. In Special Issue: The Archaeology of Institutions of Reform, Part I: Asylums, co-edited by Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood and Sherene Baugher. Special issue of International Journal of Historical Archaeology,  Vol 5 (1): 3-18.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 2000. Strange Attractors: Feminist Theory, Non-linear Systems Theory, and Their Implications for Archaeological Theory. In Social Theory in Archaeology, edited by Michael B. Schiffer. Pp. 112-25. U. of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. 1996. Feminist Historical Archaeology and the Transformation of American Culture by Domestic Reform Movements, 1840-1925.  In Historical Archaeology and the Study of American Culture, edited by L.A. De Cunzo and B.L. Herman. Pp. 397-446. Winterthur Museum and U. of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.

Courses Taught
AN 101 Human and Cultural Evolution
AN 222 Introduction to Anthropological Archaeology
AN 282 Prehistoric Origins of Civilization
AN 385 Historical Archaeology
AN 392/WGS301 Special Topics in Anthropology and WGS: Gender in Historical Archaeology
WGS 320 Feminist Theory
WGS 321 Methods of Feminist Analysis
WGS 399 Field Experience in Women and Gender Studies
WGS 405 Women and Gender Studies Capstone Course