Matthew C. Greer | Humanities and Social Sciences | SIU

Matthew Greer is a historical archaeologist, specializing in the study of race, class, and slavery in 18th- and 19th-century America. He has a PhD in Anthropology from Syracuse University (2022), an MA in Anthropology from the University of Southern Mississippi (2014), and a BA in History from the University of Mary Washington (2009). Matthew came to SIU in 2024 from the University of Missouri Research Reactor where he was an NSF SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Matthew is currently involved in three multidisciplinary projects that merge research methods from archaeology, history, and analytical chemistry with theoretical insights from anthropology, Black studies, and the new materialism. The first is a study of the lives of enslaved Africans in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, focusing on how enslaved people carved out spaces for themselves within the political economy of slavery. The second assesses how notions of Blackness and whiteness were created and enacted in the Shenandoah Valley through everyday practices like setting tables and choosing what to eat for dinner. The third, which he is beginning at SIU, uses colonoware—a type of ceramic made by enslaved and Indigenous potters—to study the political ecologies of slavery in Virginia and South Carolina. Matthew also leads the annual SIU Archaeological field school, which focuses on historic-era sites in southern Illinois.

In addition to his research, Matthew is president-elect for the Middle Atlantic Archaeology Conference and a member of the Board of Directors for Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown, VA. He is also actively involved in providing training opportunities for archaeologists who want to incorporate archaeological science into their research methods.