Khrystyne Tschinkel
Khrystyne Tschinkel is a biological anthropologist specializing in osteology, paleopathology, and Indigenous communities in Peru. Khrystyne is particularly interested in the circum-contact and Early Colonial period in Peru. Her research interests are focused broadly on health, disease, sex and gender, societal responses to climate change, inequality/structural violence, social identity, and the female experience during colonialization. She serves as the Field and Lab Co-Director at El Programa Arqueológica Huanchaco in Huanchaco, Peru where she continues to work at multiple sites. One is a National Geographic-funded project of the excavation of a mass child sacrifice site in Huanchaquito and Pampa la Cruz. These sacrifice sites were community responses to traumatic climate change events. Another is at the Huanchaco Colonial Church where she studies the biological and cultural impacts of colonial contact. She received her PhD in Biological Anthropology from Tulane University and a Master of Science in Paleopathology from Durham University (UK). Khrystyne has authored numerous journal articles and presented her work at various associations and meetings.
Teaching philosophy
It didn’t take me long in my teaching career to realize that most students taking my courses would not become anthropologists. Some students might find the learned material directly relates to their future career. Still, it won’t be critical for many to remember a species name or the difference between forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology. Instead, my goal is to use anthropological study and framework to teach students skills they can apply to their chosen path. I aim to teach students to be skillful in critical thinking, have an open mind, be curious about what it means to be human, and continue questioning the world around them. To reach my goals, I ask myself, have my students become more inquisitive, gained confidence, developed new ideas, asked more in-depth questions, and become in tune with how methods can bias the results? These are my best indicators that evolution, in the context of learning, has occurred.
I approach teaching like I do archaeology; I constantly learn and strive to improve each year. Everyone in the classroom should be learning and enjoying the experience, including the professor. I continue to learn each semester as I read new material and from what my students bring to the classroom. We must remember that we’re all students navigating an overwhelming amount of information. Teaching and learning are both social behaviors, as we, the teachers, interact with students and how the students interact with one another. I encourage students to give their opinions on course material, what successful learning means to them is important to me as well.
I aim to teach students to be skillful in critical thinking, have an open mind, be curious about what it means to be human, and continue questioning the world around them. To reach my goals, I ask myself, have my students become more inquisitive, gained confidence, developed new ideas, asked more in-depth questions, and become in tune with how methods can bias the results? These are my best indicators that evolution, in the context of learning, has occurred.
—Khrystyne Tschinkel
Inevitably, I teach my students the relevant anthropological foundations, theories, and scientific facts. Equally important, I teach my students that learning about themselves, their origins, and their behavior is all about the search to become less ignorant about the people and the world around them. We can understand more about ourselves by understanding the organisms we came from and the organisms that lived alongside our ancestors. Sometimes, to understand yourself, you need to look at other people and your origins, not just your living caretakers but also your ancestors from thousands and millions of years ago. We are a diverse species, biologically and culturally; the classes I teach are about what connects all humans today and where we came from, informing us why we look different and behave the way we do as a society. By examining this diversity, we can understand more about ourselves; the more we understand, the more likely we are to behave responsibly. Discovering diversity in the classroom has become increasingly important and highly motivates students on a personal level. Enabling everyone to apply and demonstrate their skills improves student engagement, knowledge retention, and the student’s skill set.
Grades should not drive education. How I express myself as a professor and approach teaching is about the experience and excitement for learning. I rekindle students’ innate curiosity and desire to learn by bringing my own passion for anthropology and research in Peru into the classroom. I seek to create a more relaxed and engaged classroom, which results in successful learning and a positive learning community. Critical thinking, writing, oral communication, organization, planning, and time management are all critical skills practiced by a successful archaeologist and are skills students will focus on cultivating and practicing inside my classroom. Much like evolution, I adapt my courses each semester, keeping up with current pedagogies, finding new ways to include diversity, and creating productive student interactions. I want my students to succeed in their future careers by cultivating these transferrable skill sets in my classroom. Our student’s successes are our successes. After completing my course, students will be more prepared to enter the workforce, regardless of their chosen career.
