Archaeology Collections
NAGPRA Program Manager   

Research Interests/Experience

Eighteenth century relationships between Native American communities and Euro-American traders are Dr. Yann’s primary research focus, particularly focusing on how economic transactions may have influenced power dynamics between groups. She is particularly interested in the lasting impacts of colonialism. She has experience working on archaeological projects throughout the Midwest, on sites thousands of years old to very recent. Most recently, she has been consulting and collaborating with Tribal representatives to facilitate the respectful return of ancestors that had previously been a part of the MSU Museum’s collections.  

Selected Publications

Walder, Heather and Jessica Yann, editors
2018 Encounters, Exchange, Entanglement: Current Perspectives on Intercultural Interactions throughout the Western Great Lakes. MCJA Occasional Paper Number 2.  

Walder, Heather and Jessica Yann
2018  Resilience and Survivance: Frameworks for Discussing Intercultural Interactions. In Encounters, Exchange, Entanglement: Current Perspectives on Intercultural Interactions throughout the Western Great Lakes, edited by Heather Walder and Jessica Yann, p. 1-32. MCJA Occasional Paper Number 2.  

Degrees

Ph.D., Anthropology, Michigan State University, 2019
M.A., Anthropology, Ball State University, 2009