Degrees

MHP in Historic Preservation (University of Maryland)

MAA in Applied Anthropology (University of Maryland)

PhD in Anthropology (University of Maryland)

Research interests

My current research investigates the ways industrial culture heritage is used in local politics today. I am currently conducting fieldwork in Wales to understand the ways that industrial landscapes undergo heritagization and reflect political identities. Previously, I have used archaeological and archival methods to illuminate the experiences of marginalized working communities (including women, immigrants, and prisoners) in the United States using material culture studies, remote sensing, architectural analyses, and/or intersectional frameworks. 

Key Publications

Westmont, V.C, and C.B. Colclasure. 2023. “An Archaeology of Convict Leasing in the American South.” Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage https://doi.org/10.1080/21619441.2023.2205688 

Westmont, V.C. 2022. “Social Engineering at the Company Home Hearth: Coal Company Use of Architecture to Control Domestic Spaces in the Pennsylvania Anthracite Region, 1866-1889.” Historical Archaeology 56(1): 782-803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-022-00380-1 

Westmont, V.C. 2021. “Assessing the Adaptive Resilience of Twentieth Century Post-industrial Fishing Landscapes in Siglufjörður, Iceland.” Landscape Research 46(5): 693-712.  https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2021.1884850 

Westmont, V.C. 2020. “Faux Materials and Aspirational Identity: Celluloid Combs and Working Class Dreams in the Pennsylvania Anthracite Region.” Journal of Material Culture 25(1): 93-107. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1359183519858377