Kechu Huang

Fourth Year

Kechu Huang received a BA in Anthropology, with a concentration in Archaeology, from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2020. Her senior thesis explores human-animal interactions and the nature of different animals at Predynastic Hierakonpolis as being conceptualized in the hierarchical spectrum and the cosmos, linked to ancient Egyptian orders. Kechu has also participated in several archaeological field projects in New Mexico and Shaanxi, China.

 Through her research, she developed interests in how death became an arena for the creation, enhancement, and reification of power in ancient Egypt and early China. At ISAW, she intends to participate in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary dialogues concerning the ancient rationales behind the occurrence of and reasons for ritualized violence in the establishment of hierarchies in early state societies. She also seeks to explore social disturbances caused by political instability in transitional points of history, and the effect of such turbulence on life and death, as experienced by individuals of different social networks.