I’m currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Cal Poly Pomona in Los Angeles County, California. I earned my PhD and M.A. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley, and my A.B. in Anthropology and English from the University of Michigan. I am a biological anthropologist and skeletal biologist, with additional training in historical bio/archaeology. My work documents the deep, embodied, and historically contextual experiences of disability at many scales (population, collective, individual) by engaging with critical disability studies theory and disability communities and disability justice activism. My technical expertise is in cross-sectional geometry, human osteology, gross anatomy, and non-destructive and medical imaging techniques.

I combine social theory with the methods of biological anthropology to address big questions about disability and experience, like -

• What does it mean to be disabled?

• Does disability, as a political identity, exist in the past? If yes, what are these disability experiences and how can we access them?

• How do eugenic beliefs and politics shape the practice of science, our knowledge of the human body and its physiology, and our understanding of human evolution?

This research takes me to previously-excavated skeletal collections, historical archives, museums, and digital databases primarily in the United States and Italian Peninsula, where I use an array of quantitative and qualitative approaches in ethically-minded and justice-oriented research.

Contact me

I am passionate about quantitative literacy, and applying supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques to biological data. I am always happy to consult or support other anthropologists, scientists, or students interested in developing their skills in this area through formal collaboration or informal discussion.

You can find my latest scholarship via Google Scholar, ResearchGate, or my Publications page. The easiest way to contact me, set up a meeting, or request free pdfs of my work is via email: kmkinkopf@cpp.edu