I am an ICREA Research Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where I coordinate CGyM (Research Group on Colonialism, Gender and Materialities) and GRASEG (Research Group in Social Archaeology and Gender Studies). I began my research at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, where I received my PhD in 1993. I was subsequently appointed by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, the University of Cambridge, and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. I have been honorary research fellow and visiting professor at different centres including UCSC, Northwestern, the National Taiwan University, the German Archaeological Institute, the University of Oslo, and the University of Sydney. I have received several grants from the Catalan and the Spanish government, the European Union, and the Palarq Foundation. I am currently supervising 7 PhD students and 2 postdocs. I was funding member and co-chair of AGE (Archaeology and Gender in Europe) for the period 2009-2015.
Research interests
I am an archaeologist with broad interests in social and theoretical archaeology. My fields of research include the Archaeology of Colonialism, the Archeology of Globalization, and the Archaeology of Gender. I am investigating the consequences that Jesuit missions had on native CHamoru (Guam, western Pacific). This research challenges conceptual dichotomies among disciplines and within disciplines (i.e. prehistoric and historic archaeology), and addresses issues of high scientific and social relevance such as the construction of gender and the value of dynamics related to cultural continuity, cooperation, and interdependence to human societies. I am PI in GenderGlobal, and ABERIGUA; scientist in charge in two ERC IF-MSCAs; and co-director of archaeological campaigns at Humatak. I believe that research must result in a more equitable and sustainable future, which in my case implies diluting divides between popular and academic understandings of colonialism and gender.
Selected publications
- Montón Subías S 2023, ‘Arqueología y Cuidados. Representación del pasado, actividades de mantenimiento y prácticas académicas’. In Pilar Fatás et al. eds. Los bisontes de Altamira los descubrió una mujer. Museos, arqueología, patrimonio y género. Museo Nacional y Centro de Investigación Altamira, Altamira, 39-56.
- Montón Subías S 2023, El proyecto Aberigua: el estudio de la materialidad colonial en las islas Marianas. In Rodríguez-Ponga R & Barbero MA, Quinientos años de un Oceano llamado Pacífico, Dykinson, Madrid: 239-259.
Selected research activities
- Coordinator SGR-Cat 2021 Grup de Recerca en Arqueologia Social i Estudis de Gènere-GRASEG.
- PI in Gender and Globalization. From Prehistory to Early Modernity in the Mariana Islands (PID2019-105431GB-I00).
- Interview 2nd step ERC AdG.
- 1 new doctoral contract FI-Joan Oró.
- Invited speaker to workshops Cocina, Cultura Material y Actividades de Mantenimiento, Arqueología Doméstica. Identidad y parentesco and Jesuit Launcheon Workshop.
- Invited round tables L'art de la cuina. Un diàleg durant segles and Retos de la arqueología feminista e interseccional:camino recorrido y nuevas perspectivas.
- Supervision: 7 doctoral candidates.
- Co-organization: session In Small Islands Forgotten, Society for Historical Archaeology, Universidade Nova, Lisbon..
- Co-organization: round table AGE for a Slow Archaeology, European Association of Archaeologists, Queens University, Belfast.
- Organization: running seminar Charlas Feministas en Arqueologia (Pompeu Fabra University).