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| Dr. Kaniqua Robinson |
When one thinks of a tragic event, particularly one that leads to the loss of life, one considers who may be involved in the investigative process. From an anthropological standpoint that is most often forensic archaeologists and anthropologists, who are responsible for exhuming the deceased and then identifying who they were and how they died. These specialists play an important role in these investigations, but there is a need for a different type of anthropologist: the cultural anthropologist. Cultural anthropologists often work with the living victims of such tragedies, specifically survivors and victims’ families, to understand the circumstances of what happened and how best to resolve the trauma and grief that comes from such tragic circumstances. This is a responsibility that applied cultural anthropologist, Dr. Kaniqua L. Robinson, takes very seriously.
Dr. Robinson earned her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in English from Georgia State University, followed by her Master of Arts in Anthropology from the same institution. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Anthropology from the University of South Florida (USF) in 2018. It was here where she joined a select group of USF faculty and students in a project to investigate the locations of missing children buried at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, a reform school in Florida. The project, named the Boot Hill Burial Grounds Project, resulted in the identification and exhumation of 55 burials of young boys who died during their tenure at the school. It also forced individuals associated with the school, including staff, juveniles at the school, and neighboring residents, to confront the realities of the tragedies that took place there. This required the careful work of cultural anthropologists, and as a doctoral student Dr. Robinson fulfilled this role. Working as a Research Assistant on the project she learned about what happened from various individuals’ perspectives. You took this information and turned it into her doctoral research, which focused on the role of religion in the creation of public memory. She addressed how religion worked as a means of reconciling these events.
Her work also touched on several other topics, including inequalities in the criminal justice system, particularly against minority youths, and the need for reforms. Dr. Robinson has published several articles and book chapters on this subject matter, as well as provides several public lectures on these topics. By doing this she is taking the scholarly and applied approaches in ensuring that people understand what happened at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, its impacts on the victims and their families, and how to not allow these tragedies to continue.
In addition to this work she is currently an Associate Professor in Anthropology at Furman University. She has also served as an officer on various boards and organizations. She is listed as the VP of Communications for the Association for Black Anthropologists and the Research Consultant & Memorialization Specialist for the Black Cemetery Network. In these roles she applies what she has learned concerning racial injustice and works to minimize and eliminate those barriers and issues, further demonstrating how anthropology is not just an academic endeavor but one that can be used to solve real problems.
Works Cited
Association of Black Anthropologists. "ABA Executive Board." 26 May 2022. Association of Black Anthropologists. Electronic. 14 May 2026.
Furman University. "Kaniqua Robinson, Associate Professor, Anthropology." n.d. Furman University. Electronic. 14 May 2026.
Robinson, Kaniqua L. The Performance of Memorialization: Politics of Memory and Memory-Making at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys. Dissertation. Tampa: University of South Florida, 2018. Print.
The Black Cemetery Network. "Our Team." 2021. The Black Cemetery Network. Electronic. 14 May 2026.
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