Jessica Yann

Jessica Yann (PhD, Michigan State University) is the NAGPRA Program Manager, reporting to the Vice Provost for University Arts and Collections. In this position, I ensure the entire university is in compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). My secondary appointment is in the Anthropology department, where I am an archaeologist. My research is focused on the Midwest and Great Lakes region in particular, and I’ve done archaeological research in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. I focus on the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly on the impacts of colonialism on trade networks and social interactions particularly through the lens of economic systems and power dynamics.  I also focus on better training students to be good stewards of the archaeological record through consultation and collaboration. More recently, I’ve been focusing on how we might better situate collections and museums to reconcile with our colonial heritage through policy formation.

Please note: I am not available to accept students for graduate work.

Some Publications:

• Yann, Jessica L., Jenna Domeischel, Amanda Roberts Thompson, Nina Shreiner. 2025. Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners: Introduction. Advances in Archaeological Practice. Cambridge University Press.
• Garland, Carey J., Dawn Alapisco, Risa Arbolino, Amy Covell-Murthy, Lauren Sieg, and Jessica Yann. 2025. Best practices and considerations for developing policies on NAGPRA, Repatriation, and Care. Advances in Archaeological Practice. Cambridge University Press.
• Yann, Jessica L. 2025. Rethinking ‘Contact’: Michigan in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, in Post Contact Archaeology in Michigan and the Great Lakes Region, edited by Sarah Surface-Evans and Misty Jackson. Berghahn Books, New York.
• Yann, Jessica L. 2025[2015]. A Lead Cloth Seal from the Norge Village Site (20MK53). The Michigan Archaeologist 61:61-70.
• Yann, Jessica L., Stacy Tchorzynski, Dean L. Anderson, and Troy Henderson. 2025. Hot Iron, Cold Winters: Unearthing Stories of the Fayette Historic Town Site, in Post Contact Archaeology in Michigan and the Great Lakes Region, edited by Sarah Surface-Evans and Misty Jackson. Berghahn Books, New York.
• Walder, Heather and Jessica Yann, editors. 2018. Encounters, Exchange, Entanglement: Current Perspectives on Intercultural Interactions throughout the Western Great Lakes. MCJA Occasional Paper Number 2.
• Walder, Heather and Jessica Yann. 2018. Resilience and Survivance: Frameworks for Discussing Intercultural Interactions. In Encounters, Exchange, Entanglement: Current Perspectives on Intercultural Interactions throughout the Western Great Lakes, edited by Heather Walder and Jessica Yann, pages 1-32. MCJA Occasional Paper Number 2.