Dr. Barry Rodrigue: Historical Archeologist and Geographer continues Historical Investigation

​Barry Rodrigue is a professor of anthropology at the School for Liberal Arts, Symbiosis International University, Pune, Maharashtra, India. He began his career in Alaska, where he established the journal, Archipelago, to bring together cultural materials from around the North Pacific. One of the projects led to a Folkways Records production, The Southeast Alaska Folk Tradition, now part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Sound series. As a Fulbright Scholar, he worked as a research geographer at Laval University, from where he co-authored a regional history for the Quebec National Institute of Scientific Research. As an associate professor of humanities at the University of Southern Maine, a reviewer described his anthology, Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader, as the best book in American Studies for 2007. A state-certified archaeologist who contracts for cultural resource management surveys, as well as an editor for professional studies, his clients include the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Australian National University, and the US Open World Leadership Program. A founder of the International Big History Association and the Asian Big History Federation, he serves as their international coordinator as well as a research professor in the Eurasian Center for Megahistory and System Forecasting (Russian Academy of Sciences). He lives in Vermont and Maharashtra with his wife Penelope Markle and their son, Dimitri.

Dr. ​​Barry Rodrigue answers questions about himself, his career and his travels.

1. What made you become an Historical Archeologist and Geographer?
   When I was five years old, I discovered a large bone in the field behind our home.  It was probably from a long dead cow, but  I was convinced it came from a brontosaurus. A Jesuit math professor, Bernard Scully,  from Fairfield University, would go fishing with my dad. He encouraged my interest, bringing plastic dinosaurs and a book by archaeologist Roy Chapman Andrews about searching for fossils in the Gobi desert. I remember my art projects in 2nd grade were big watercolors about dinosaurs. From these beginnings, my fascination with understanding the world grew.
2. Why did you start Rodrigue Global?
   ​As a result of the network that developed from my projects in global studies, I saw the need to more efficiently connect people around the world in international problem-solving. These projects began with my regional ethnographic work along the North Pacific Rim and continued with research in historical geography in the Borderlands of eastern North America. The most recent work has been on understanding and promoting Big History thinking. I started Rodrigue Global Associates to facilitate this global work.
3. Where did you study Archaeology and what credentials do you have?
   I began training under Helen Camp at the Pemequid archaeological site in Maine when I was a junior in high school. In college, I excavated an Ojibway site in Wisconsin with Bill Workman,  studied Neolithic tombs with Rúaidhrí de Valera in Ireland, and ran a museum of Clovis culture for George Agogino in New Mexico. After work with North American folklore, history and geography, I completed my certification in historical archaeology with Alaric Faulkner at the University of Maine in 2003.
4. What is your dream Archaeological / Historical Consulting Project?
   ​Coordinating an international team of scholars to assemble the ‘Pangea Project’, which describes the world at the time of the super-continent and compares it to today and our vision of the future.
5. Any tips for getting started studying Big History/Cosmic Evolution/Universal Studies?
   Watch David Christian’s 18-minute Ted Talk about  Big History, then contact me to connect with folks.
6. You have traveled around the world, what are your top seven places you’ve visited? Where would you like to go to continue historical investigation?
   The most memorable places I’ve been to are Taishan (China), Istanbul (Turkey), Sartigan (Québec), Shatoy (Chechnya), Diomede Island and Yakutat Bay (Alaska), Coldigioco (Italy), Vladivostock (Siberia), and the Dzükou Valley (Nagaland).  I would like to spend more time in the highlands of Central Asia.

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