Ethnography & Oral History
My project-thesis “Choctaw-Apache Foodways” depends on ethnographic fieldwork and oral history among the Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb community.
Gourds drying
Pepper Soup and Biscuits
Mr. Dick Sepulvado making tamales
I have written short, unpublished ethnographic papers on the following:
– Czech Cowboy culture
-Archaeologists and their relationship to the descendants of the people they study
-Native born American Buddhists
-Islamophobia in France, U.K., and Germany: What about the Czech Republic?
-French Market of New Orleans: A case of Continuity or Adaptive Reuse?
-Theravada Buddhism and Ethnic Identity in Texas
My hope is to continue researching the intersections of food and culture. I plan on writing a short article on the Zwolle Tamale Fiesta and ethnic identity in Sabine Parish. I have a research plan on a book on the relationship between grits and culture in the U.S. South, tentatively entitled, “How d’ you take your grits?”
I follow the ethical standards of the American Anthropology Association requiring informed consent, and the practices embodied in the Principles and Best Practices of the Oral History Association and the follow University requirements for Oral History under Human Subjects Institutional Review Board.
Archaeology
Archeology is not my specialty, but I have always been drawn to the discipline. I am comfortable cataloguing collections and curating artifacts. I have done limited fieldwork as a crew member or volunteer at the direction of experienced archaeologists. I am not afraid to get dirty. I have the ability to read field maps and complete field documentation and site maps. I have a particular interest in NAGPRA repatriation.
Field
2010. Presidio Nuestra Señora del Pilar de los Adaes (16NA16). I coordinated volunteers doing wet screening, bagging and labeling of artifacts.
1998. Public Archeaology in the Treme (16OR148). I participated with excavation and dry screening.
Lab & Curation
2010. Graduate Assistant, Williamson Museum under direction of Hiram F. “Pete” Gregory. Curating and inventory of Williamson Museum’s permanent collections.
1999. Student summer curator for the Greater New Orleans Archaeology Program under guidance of Christopher N. Matthews. Sorting, labeling, photographing artifacs and assisting with editing archaeological reports.
Theory and Additional Skills
In Fall 2009 I had a refresher on mapping, shovel testing, grid graphing, and the use of geophysical testing and GPS systems with Dr. Tommy Haley at Ft. Jesup archaeological site as part of his methods course. Also as part of this course I completed an archaeological proposal, “Rediscovering Willow Plantation” based on archival research and lidar maps.
Interpretation of Archaeological Reports
I am comfortable reading archaeological reports and integrating archaeological data into my research projects.
Rediscovering old connections: Nacogdoches, Tx
A Summer 2010 trip to Nacogdoches to do research on descendants of Los Adaes brought me to the East Texas Research Center where I met with Peggy Jasso, a Texas genealogist specializing in old Spanish and mestizo families.I searched land records and poured through old Spanish documents translated in the E.B. Blake Collection.
I visited rural communities and a number the older cemeteries. In the course of visiting these communities with Dr. George Avery, an archaeologist at Stephen F. Austin University, we had the pleasure of meeting good contacts for follow up ethnographic fieldwork regarding life along the old El Camino Real. Dr. Avery introduced me to the pre-historic and historic archaeology of the area. Before returning home, I saw Old Stone Fort, Mission Delores and stopped for inspiration at El Lobanillo, the site of Gil Ybarbo’s ranch on the Texas side of the Sabine River.
Robert B. Caldwell 
