Tamara Spike - History, Anthropology, and Philosophy

Tamara Spike, Ph.D.

Associate Department Head

706-864-1912

Barnes Hall, 319, Dahlonega

Area(s) of Expertise: Latin America, Ethnohistory

Overview

Dr. Tamara Spike is a historian of Latin America with a specialization in ethnohistory.

Courses Taught

Introduction to Latin American History
History of Mexico
History of the Caribbean
Indigenous Peoples of Latin America
Gender and Sexuality in Latin America
History of Indigenous Peoples
Native American History
U.S./Latin American Relations

Education

Ph.D., History, Florida State University, 2006
M.A., History, Florida State University, 2002
B.A., Anthropology, Classical Archaeology, Florida State University, 1993

Research/Special Interests

Dr. Spike focuses on the cultural reconstruction of the Timucuan Indians of Spanish Florida.

Publications

“Death and Death Ritual among the Timucua of Spanish Florida,” in From La Florida to La California, edited by Jeffrey Burns and Timothy Johnson

“St Augustine’s Stomach: Indian Tribute Labor and Corn in Florida, 1565-1763” in Florida’s Labor and Working-Class Past: Three Centuries of Work in the Sunshine State, edited by Robert Cassanello and Melanie Shell-Weiss

“Making History Count: The Guadalajara Census Project (1791-1930),” Hispanic American Historical Review; and “Si todo el mundo fuera Inglaterra: la teoría de Peter Laslett sobre la composición de las unidades domésticas vs. la realidad tapatía, 1821-1822,” Estudios Sociales Nueva Época.

Work Experience

From 1999-2010, Dr. Spike worked with the Guadalajara Census Project, a National Endowment for the Humanities- funded project which digitized and analyzed censuses from Guadalajara, Mexico spanning 1791-1930.

During the 1990s, she also worked as a contract archaeologist on prehistoric and historic sites all over Florida.