Remembrance: Susan Kent

Abstract

Susan Kent, 50, ethnoarchaeologist, died on April 12, 2003. Her unexpected death occurred while she was in Milwaukee, attending the Society for American Archaeology annual meeting. Sue, as everyone called her, was born in Oakland, California, but spent her high school years in Colorado. She attended the University of Southern Colorado, receiving her BS in anthropology in 1973. Her graduate work was at Washington State University (MA in 1975, PhD in 1980). Although most of her later research focused on Africa, she continued to use her early work on activity areas and the uses of space among the Navajo as comparative material. Kent was appointed as visiting faculty at the University of New Mexico, Iowa State University, and the University of Kentucky, before settling down at Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, Virginia. There she eventually became an Eminent Professor. Author or editor of eight books and multiple articles and chapters, she continually worked to bring the four fields of anthropology together to bear on central areas of interest to archaeology. Many of her publications demonstrate these concerns, and indeed she was very proud to have published something in each of the anthropological subdisciplines. Among her books are Analyzing Activity Areas: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of the Use of Space (1984), Farmers as Hunters—The Implications of Sedentism (1989), Domestic Architecture and the Use of Space (1990), Cultural Diversity Among Twentieth Century Foragers (1998), and Ethnicity, Hunter-Gatherers and the “Other”: Association or Assimilation. Her African research centered on observations of the Kutse and Ju’hoansi, and she made the most of her observational time. She had a frightening story about a lion near camp on one occasion, and many tales of adventures with transportation into the heart of the Kalahari. Her devotion to African archaeology was legendary, even spending her own resources when grants were not forthcoming. Before her death she was working on an important endangered site on private property. Although she had no graduate program at ODU, she mentored students at other universities and was always willing to extend a helping hand. Her many