Dr. Laura Heath-Stout

@lheathstout.bsky.social

Archaeologist, teacher, feminist, mom, writing about systemic oppression in archaeology She/her

“From Leaky Pipelines to Watering Cans” 🌱 This article advances #feminist recommendations for structural change to better support and sustain participation in #archaeology. Check out the latest FirstView article from Samantha Fladd et al. here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

From Leaky Pipelines to Watering Cans: Feminist Recommendations for Change | Advances in Archaeological Practice | Cambridge Core

From Leaky Pipelines to Watering Cans: Feminist Recommendations for Change

cambridge.org

the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex

Monday was my first day of Archaeology and Disability class! 🏺♿ Besides getting to know one another and going over the syllabus, we collaboratively created a timeline of disability history from our own existing knowledge.

My Archaeology and Disability 🏺♿ course starts on 1/5, but I'm traveling with my family 12/17–1/2, so I am getting everything ready now! I'm really excited about the grading (or, really, #ungrading) structure of the course, which gives students a lot of freedom, choice, and room for risk-taking! 🧵

Super excited to be preparing for my Archaeology 🏺 and Disability ♿ course for winter quarter! Registration starts this week, and I hope lots of awesome @stanford.edu students sign up! I'll be posting about the class here on BlueSky too, and would love to have some good pedagogy conversations!

Flyer text: 
ANTHRO/ARCHLGY/FEMGEN 139/239
Archaeology and Disability

Winter 2026
Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:30–2:50pm
Building 200, Room 2:10
WAYS: EDP

Course Description: In this course, we will explore the ways archaeology and disability relate to each other, including both the ways archaeologists interpret disability in the past and how ableism shapes the practice of archaeology in the present. We will examine a variety of theoretical frames drawn from Disability Studies and other disciplines and consider how they can be usefully applied to archaeology. Case studies from a variety of geographic and temporal contexts will provide the basis for imagining an anti-ableist archaeology.

Dr. Laura Heath-Stout
lheathst@stanford.edu

Flyer images: photo of objects of personal adornment from Western Washington Hospital for the Insane, USA (from Linnea Kuglitsch's dissertation), artistic reconstruction of a temple with a ramp, Epidauros, Greece (from an article by Deborah Sneed), artistic reconstruction of a disabled H. heidelbergensis, Atapuerca, Spain (from a 2010 article in El Mundo); my headshot showing a smiling white woman in my 30s, wearing a brightly colored shawl

I'm giving a talk at my work this week that is being broadcast online via Zoom! Maybe you're interested in watching? "Archaeology of Ableism and Ableism in Archaeology: Building a More Rigorous Archaeology through Disability Studies" Wednesday, November 19, 12-1pm Pacific #academicsky 🏺♿

I'm starting to work on designing my "Archaeology and the Public" course for next spring. Does anyone have syllabi, assignments, or lesson plans they'd be willing to share on the subjects of public arch, collaborative arch, pseudoarch, or journalistic & pop culture depictions of arch?🏺 #academicsky

Trans rights are not the rights of a tiny minority, trans rights are everyone’s rights to self-determination, control of our bodies, and a society where opportunity and aesthetics are not restricted by sex assigned at birth You should support and defend trans people because trans people are people

This morning, I was walking my child to school, holding their hand, and with my other hand, I pulled out my phone and sent my partner a quick text. A complete stranger said to me "Don't ignore your child's safety, looking at your phone!" PSA: it is rude to comment on strangers' parenting.