Palka is an archaeologist, anthropologist, and ethnohistorian of indigenous religions, art, Maya culture, Mesoamerican ecological aquaculture, and cross-cultural contact in Mexico and Central America.

Her research links skeletal biology to issues of social identity, health and human interactions in historical and archaeological contexts, as well as in contemporary society.

Refugee/asylum migration and displacement, transnationalism, human rights, transitional justice, militarism, and conflict and peace in the Horn of Africa and northern Uganda.

An Arkansas native, Katherine Sargent received her Master of Arts in anthropology from George Mason University in 2020. She is currently pursuing here PhD here at ASU.

Paris Masek holds a PhD in Indigenous American Literatures and Cultures from Arizona State University where he is also an Associate Faculty member in the English Department.