Almost everyone has heard of ex-Harvard President Larry Summer’s controversial comments in 2005, when he suggested women’s disproportionate representation in the sciences was due to their “innate” genetic differences to men. Later criticized as sexist since he had no scientific proof to back up his claim, Summers and his genetic hierarchy of gender have long since faded into the background. While women do statistically constitute a smaller proportion of the profession, extraordinary women in the sciences work every day to prove his comments wrong. University of Oregon professor Madonna Moss is one of them.
Professor Madonna Moss is in her 21st year teaching at the University of Oregon, with an extensive archaeological background working with the Northwest Coast of North America; specifically with Tlingit and Haida Indians and their ancestors. She received her M.A. and Ph.D from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1982 and 1989, respectively, and has written numerous publications focusing on the indigenous uses of marine mammals and sea birds along the Southeast Alaskan coast. Additionally, she has brought studies together that reassess gender roles in archaeology. She has recently published Re-Thinking Northwest Coast Archaeology, a book that re-evaluates new archaeological data on the Northwest Coast. (Ed. Note: The book is actually titled Northwest Coast: Archaeology as Deep History.)
Emily Wilson: What sparked your interest in the sciences? Anthropology and archaeology?
Madonna Moss: There were a number of different reasons. My parents loved geography and history and that had some impact on me. My father worked in the construction industry, and he would always tell me these wonderful stories of the places he’d go on his business trips. Not that they were extremely exotic or anything (laughs), but growing up with an appreciation for different cultures, different places and different people were some of the beginnings of my interest in anthropology. And of course, I had the benefit of having some really good science teachers in middle and high school that encouraged me to continue with the sciences.
EW: When you began college, how did you know that you wanted to study archaeology?
MM: During my undergraduate years at the College of William & Mary, I actually first started studying physics. I wasn’t a natural at it; it was something I really had to work at. But I ended up taking an archaeology class for an elective credit, I think, and I got hooked after doing field school work up in the Olympic Peninsula at the Ozette Indian Village Archaeological Site. We worked with Makah Native Americans and recovered a lot of artifacts that otherwise would have been carried away with erosion. It began to occur to me that archaeology could have a positive impact on the local communities, and that was something I felt was worth pursuing.
EW: Did you ever feel underrepresented as a woman in the field?
MM: Well, I remember being kind of a curiosity in my mostly-male classes in college – especially in my physics classes – but I never felt discriminated against. All my professors were very encouraging and they were all male, but it’s interesting to see the spectrum of anthropology. The male faculty works with archaeology and biological anthropology, and women mostly with cultural anthropology. Field schools that I were in were pretty evenly divided, but I’m pretty sure I was of a very small minority in that group of women that went on to receive my masters, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only woman who got my Ph.D.
EW: What is the biggest misconception people have about archaeology?
MM: That it’s all fieldwork. Students come to me and tell me they want to go into archaeology because they love being outdoors, that they want to do lots of excavation work, but I don’t think they realize all that goes into it. Yes, fieldwork is a big component of archaeology, but so is lab work and writing up your research. There are so many facets, but all archaeologists have the responsibility to analyze, interpret and report your findings. You’re going to learn that you’ll have to spend some time indoors.
EW: What was the biggest hurdle in your career?
MM: An academic lifestyle can be very trying and stressful, but I’d say the hardest thing to balance was being a mother and wife [her husband, Jon Erlandson, is the Executive Director of the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History], as well as pursue my profession. It takes a toll on you when you have a young child to care for, as well as meet the demands of your work. Less than three weeks after my son was born, I was back in the classroom teaching. Now they offer maternity as well as paternity leave, but when I first came to the University, that definitely wasn’t the case.
EW: Any parting words of advice for collegiettes™ entering a science field?
MM: I think the most important trait to have is just perseverance. Having patience with oneself is also important. So many times, I preoccupied myself with how much I can learn and how fast I can do something, but I learned to cut myself some slack. There were so many times I wanted to throw in the towel, and so many times where I began to lose faith in myself, but by taking a step back and believing in yourself, it’s remarkable what you can accomplish.