James L. Flexner teaches historical archaeology and heritage studies at the University of Sydney. His main research interests are in landscape archaeology and historical archaeology, with a geographic focus on Oceania. His research projects involve fieldwork, artefact analysis, archival research, and studying historical ethnographic collections. James is also involved in developing close partnerships with local communities in the Pacific region, as well as broader public outreach efforts to make archaeology accessible to many audiences. His doctoral research at UC Berkeley was a study of the landscapes of the 19th century leprosarium at Kalawao, Moloka'i in the Hawaiian Islands. From 2011-2021 he focused his research efforts on fieldwork projects in Vanuatu, Tasmania, and Queensland. From 2022-2026 James is an ARC Future Fellow working on the project ‘Archaeologies of community and colonialism in Oceania’ (FT210100244).

Current projects

Major Research Projects:

2021-2026: Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, ‘Archaeologies of community and colonialism in Oceania’, (FT210100244, $AU905,890 research funding over four years)

Abstract: ‘This project aims to understand the colonial past, its repercussions for the present and future in Oceania and the relationships between global forces and local experiences. It will use an interdisciplinary approach to historical archaeology and community archaeology. The unique colonial landscapes in Mangareva, French Polynesia will provide a landmark case study with global implications. In addition to internationally significant scholarly outputs and collaboration development, the project will make a substantive contribution to public outreach and education. Benefits would include advancement of Oceanic contributions to global historical archaeology, and increased awareness of the meanings of colonial heritage among Pacific peoples.’

2018-2023: Australian Research Council Linkage Project (with Dr Geraldine Mate, Ms Imelda Miller, A/Prof Jonathan Prangnell, Dr Helena Robinson, A/Prof Thomas Baumgartl and A/Prof Andrew Fairbairn, ‘Archaeology, collections and Australian South Sea Islander lived identities’ (LP170100048, $AU445,313 research funding over 3 years)

Abstract: ‘Australian South Sea Islanders (ASSIs) are not indigenous to Australia, nonetheless they have a distinctive and vibrant indigenous culture. Their stories involve an ongoing, 150-plus year history of struggle for rights and recognition. Having written little about themselves, most of these stories are on and in the ground in the places that ASSIs have inhabited, and in the objects they have left behind. The proposed research will integrate archaeology, museology, and cultural landscape research to weave together histories of ASSI lives and communities in partnership with living ASSI communities, in order to raise awareness about the ASSI past in Queensland society, and to contribute to senses of ASSI identity in the present and future.

Project website: https://assilivedidentities.qm.qld.gov.au/

2016-2019: Australian Research Council Discovery Project (with Stuart Bedford and Frederique Valentin), ‘3000 years of settlement and interaction in southern Vanuatu’ (DP160103578, $AU317,698 research funding over four years)

Abstract: ‘One of archaeology's most significant contributions is providing models for the emergence of cultural diversity through time. Vanuatu is one of the most diverse regions on Earth. The southern islands were an important hub in early settlement and long-term inter-island interactions of Island Melanesia. Yet little is known about the origins of cultural contacts and diversity in the area. A major archaeological survey of the Polynesian outliers Futuna and Aniwa and neighbouring islands Tanna and Aneityum would greatly improve our knowledge of settlement patterns, long-distance exchange, and cross-cultural interaction in the region, from initial Lapita settlement 3000 years ago through to the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 1860s.’

2013-2016: Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, ‘Mission archaeology and colonial encounters in southern Vanuatu’ (DE130101703, AU$350,505 salary and research funding over three years, hosted at the Australian National University)

Abstract: ‘The remains of Christian missions in southern Vanuatu are important heritage sites for local communities, and for their place in world history as part of one of the final frontiers of European colonialism. This project explores these sites to produce a new picture of everyday life that includes the perspectives of missionaries and native people.’

Other Current Research Projects:

Archaeology of Triabunna Barracks: Historical archaeology project on an 1840s military barracks that housed the regiment guarding Maria Island convict settlement. The site was later used as a tavern, hotel, bakery, and post office. Run as an annual field school (with colleagues from the Australian National University).

PhD and master's project opportunities

Landscape archaeology and historical archaeology

Current research students

Project title	Research student
Out of the Toybox: Seeing Children Beyond Manufactured Children’s Artefacts in the Context of Australian Historical Archaeology	Amelia O'DONNELL

Selected publications

Community-Led Research: Walking new pathways together

(Sydney University Press, 2021)

Oceania, 800-1800CE: A Millennium of Interactions in a Sea of Islands

(Cambridge University Press, 2021)

Archaeologies of Island Melanesia: Current approaches to landscapes, exchange and practice

(ANU Press, 2019)

An Archaeology of Early Christianity in Vanuatu: Kastom and Religious Change on Tanna and Erromango, 1839-1920

(ANU Press, 2016)

Publications

By Type

Expand all

Books

Flexner, J. (2021). Oceania, 800-1800CE: A Millennium of Interactions in a Sea of Islands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2016). An Archaeology of Early Christianity in Vanuatu: Kastom and Religious Change on Tanna and Erromango, 1839-1920. Acton: ANU Press. [More Information]

Edited Books

Rawlings, V., Flexner, J., Riley, L. (2021). Community-Led Research: Walking new pathways together. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Leclerc, M., Flexner, J. (2019). Archaeologies of Island Melanesia: Current approaches to landscapes, exchange and practice. Canberra: ANU Press.

Book Chapters

Flexner, J. (2024). Local histories, global connections through the present. Europe and Oceania during the 19th and 20th centuries | Lokale Geschichten, globale Verbindungen bis in die Gegenwart. Europa und Ozeanien im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. In Claudia Theune, Barbara Hausmair, Christina Schmid (Eds.), The Historical Archaeology of the 19th and 20th Centuries | Das 19. und 20. Jahrhundert im Fokus der Historischen Archäologie, (pp. 230-239). Austria: Österreichische Gesellschaft für Mittelalter- und Neuzeitarchäologie | Austrian Society for Medieval and Modern Archaeology.
Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Spriggs, M. (2024). Sauvagerie et soupe cannibale. Transformation d’un mythe au sud du Vanuatu. In Gwénael Murphy and Dominique Barbe (Eds.), Le Cannibale Dévêtu: Traces récits et représentations de l’anthropophagie en Océanie du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours, (pp. 221-231). Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.
Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Valentin, F. (2022). Encompassing islandscapes in southern Vanuatu. In Ann Brysbaert, Irene Vikatou and Jari Pakkanen (Eds.), Shaping Cultural Landscapes: Connecting Agriculture, Crafts, Construction, Transport, and Resilience Strategies, (pp. 117-132). Leiden: Sidestone Press.
Flexner, J. (2022). Ethnographic collections and archaeological research. In Alice Stevenson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Museum Archaeology, (pp. 374-386). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2021). Anarchist theory in the Pacific and 'Pacific anarchists' in archaeological thought. In Tim Thomas (Eds.), Theory in the Pacific, the Pacific in Theory: Archaeological Perspectives, (pp. 200-216). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
Rawlings, V., Flexner, J., Riley, L. (2021). Introduction: Walking many paths towards a community-led paradigm. In V. Rawlings, J. Flexner & L. Riley (Eds.), Community-Led Research: Walking new pathways together, (pp. 1-8). Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Robinson, H., Flexner, J., Miller, I. (2021). What is a researcher? Definitions, bureaucracy and ironies in the Australian context. In V. Rawlings, J. Flexner & L. Riley (Eds.), Community-Led Research: Walking new pathways together, (pp. 89-106). Sydney: Sydney University Press. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2021). Who steers the canoe? Community-Led field archaeology in Vanuatu. In V. Rawlings, J. Flexner & L. Riley (Eds.), Community-Led Research: Walking new pathways together, (pp. 107-126). Sydney: Sydney University Press. [More Information]
Zinger, W., Valentin, F., Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Detroit, F., Grimaud-Herve, D. (2020). How to explain Polynesian Outliers' heterogeneity. In Aymeric Hermann, Frederique Valentin, Christophe Sand and Emilie Nolet (Eds.), Networks and Monumentality in the Pacific, (pp. 62-77). Oxford: Archaeopress.
Flexner, J. (2020). Oceania. In C.E. Orser, Jr., A. Zarankin, P. Funari, S. Lawrence, J. Symonds (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Global Historical Archaeology, (pp. 712-730). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Leclerc, M. (2019). Complexities and diversity in archaeologies of Island Melanesia. In Mathieu Leclerc, James Flexner (Eds.), Archaeologies of Island Melanesia: Current approaches to landscapes, exchange and practice, (pp. 1-5). Canberra: ANU Press. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Lindstrom, L., Hickey, F., Kapere, J. (2019). Kaio, kapwier, nepek, and nuk: Human and non-human agency and 'conservation' on Tanna, Vanuatu. In Bas Verschuuren and Steve Brown (Eds.), Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature in Protected Areas: Governance, Management and Policy, (pp. 251-263). Oxon: Routledge.
Flexner, J., Willie, E., Horrocks, M. (2019). Sustenance and sustainability: Food remains and contact sites in Vanuatu. In Mathieu Leclerc, James Flexner (Eds.), Archaeologies of Island Melanesia: Current approaches to landscapes, exchange and practice, (pp. 135-147). Canberra: ANU Press. [More Information]
Haddow, E., Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Spriggs, M. (2018). Pendants and beads of stone, shell, and tooth from southern Vanuatu. In Michelle C. Langley, Mirani Litster, Duncan Wright, Sally K. May (Eds.), The Archaeology of Portable Art: Southeast Asian, Pacific, and Australian Perspectives, (pp. 102-124). Oxon: Routledge. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Spriggs, M. (2017). When early modern colonialism comes late: Historical archaeology in Vanuatu. In Maria Cruz-Berrocal and Cheng-hwa Tsang (Eds.), Historical Archaeology of Early Modern Colonialism in Asia-Pacific: The Southwest Pacific and Oceanian Regions, (pp. 57-91). Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Flexner, J., Spriggs, M., Bedford, S., Abong, M. (2016). Beginning Historical Archaeology in Vanuatu: Recent Projects on the Archaeology of Spanish, French, and Anglophone Colonialism. In Sandra Monton-Subias, Maria Cruz Berrocal, and Apen Ruiz Martinez (Eds.), Archaeologies of Early Modern Spanish Colonialism, (pp. 205-227). Cham: Springer. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Morgan, C. (2013). The Industrious Exiles: An Analysis of Flaked Glass Tools from the Leprosarium at Kalawao, Molokai. In Jeb J.Card (Eds.), The Archaeology of Hybrid Material Culture, (pp. 295-317). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

show 14 more

Journals

Zinger, W., Valentin, F., Spriggs, M., Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Willie, E., Kuautonga, T., Détroit, F. (2024). "Feeling at home in Vanuatu": Integration of newcomers from the East during the last millennium. PloS One, 19(2024-01-01 00:00:00). [More Information]
Politopoulos, A., Frieman, C., Flexner, J., Borck, L. (2024). An Anarchist Archaeology of Equality: Pasts and Futures Against Hierarchy. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. [More Information]
Zinger, W., Flexner, J., Bedford, S. (2024). Changing subsistence practices in pre-European populations of South Vanuatu. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 59, 104756. [More Information]
Miller, I., Youse, Z., Bickey, T., Haddow, E., Mate, G., Zubrzycka, A., Prangnell, J., Fairbairn, A., Robinson, H., Baumgartl, T., Flexner, J. (2024). Developing a holistic and collaborative approach for the archaeology of Australian South Sea Islanders in Queensland. Archaeology in Oceania, , 1-15. [More Information]
Velsko, I., Fagernas, Z., Tromp, M., Bedford, S., Buckley, H., Clark, G., Dudgeon, J., Flexner, J., Galipaud, J., Kinaston, R., et al (2024). Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania. Nature Communications, 15(Article number 10191), 1-17. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2024). Optimism, utopia, and blue-green futures for the archaeology of Oceania. Australian Archaeology, 90(1), 33-35. [More Information]
Jorgensen, N., Way, A., Flexner, J. (2023). A 600–700-year-old basalt adze production site from Mount Bates, Norfolk Island. Archaeology in Oceania, , 1-11. [More Information]
Berihuete-Azorín, M., Blackmore, C., Borck, L., Flexner, J., Frieman, C., Herrmann, C., Kiddey, R. (2023). Archaeology in 2022: Counter-myths for hopeful futures. American Anthropologist. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2022). Archaeology and Kastom: Island historicities and transforming religious traditions in Southern Vanuatu. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 29(4), 1367-1386. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Taki, J. (2022). Fear of a cannibal island: Colonial fear, everyday life, and event landscapes in the Erromango missions of Vanuatu. Journal of Social Archaeology, 22(1), 104-127. [More Information]
Valentin, F., Zinger, W., Fenwick, A., Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Willie, E., Kuautonga, T. (2022). Patterns of Mortuary Practice over Millennia in Southern Vanuatu, South Melanesia. Asian Perspectives, 61(1), 112-142. [More Information]
Shaw, I., Jones, M., Flexner, J., Bedford, S. (2022). Prefabrication, Patrilineality, and Intergenerational Reuse: The Ruined Third Church of Aniwa, Southern Vanuatu, and its Integration into Domestic Architecture. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 26(3), 573-598. [More Information]
Barker, C., Robinson, H., Flexner, J., Lawrenson, A., Burchmore, A. (2022). The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine (A Conversation). Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, 10, 159-169. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2022). ‘With the consent of the tribe:’ Marking lands on Tanna and Erromango, New Hebrides. History and Anthropology, 33(1), 67-85. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2021). Archaeology, anarchism, decolonization, and degrowth through the lens of Frase's four futures. Archaeological Dialogues, 28(1), 16-19. [More Information]
Zinger, W., Valentin, F., Spriggs, M., Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Kuautonga, T., Detroit, F. (2021). Polynesian integration in Vanuatu (Melanesia): case study of relationships between preexisting society and new-comers | [Intégration polynésienne au Vanuatu (Mélanésie): étude de cas sur les rapports entre société préexistante et individus migrants]. Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, 33(S). [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2021). The future of archaeology lies in not taking. Journal of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists, 8, 1-6.
Flexner, J. (2020). Degrowth and a sustainable future for archaeology. Archaeological Dialogues, 27(2), 159-171. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2020). Gendering the archaeology of the mission frontier in the New Hebrides. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 11(2), 11-20.
Chauvel, P., Flexner, J. (2020). Mapping Difference in the "Uniform" Workers' cottages of Maria Island, Tasmania. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 24(4), 902-919. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Muir, B., Bedford, S., Valentin, F., Elena, D., Samoria, D. (2020). Transforming mortuary rituals in "Christian" Oceania: Post-mission cemeteries from Aniwa, Vanuatu. J P S (The Journal of the Polynesian Society), 129(3), 303-326. [More Information]
Pengilley, A., Brand, C., Flexner, J., Specht, J., Torrence, R. (2019). Detecting exchange networks in New Britain, Papua New Guinea: geochemical comparisons between ax-adze blades and in situ volcanic rock sources. Archaeology in Oceania, 54(3), 200-213. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Valentin, F. (2019). Who was Polynesian? Who was Melanesian? Hybridity and ethnogenesis in the South Vanuatu Outliers. Journal of Social Archaeology, 19(3), 403-426. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Gonzalez-Tennant, E. (2018). Anarchy and Archaeology : introduction. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 5(2), 213-219. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2018). Doing Archaeology in Non-State Space. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 5(2), 254-259. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Field, J., McCoy, M., Ladefoged, T., Kirch, P. (2018). Foreign material culture from Hawaiian households in Leeward Kohala. Australasian Historical Archaeology, 36, 29-37. [More Information]
Posth, C., Nagele, K., Colleran, H., Valentin, F., Bedford, S., Kami, K., Shing, R., Buckley, H., Kinaston, R., Walworth, M., Flexner, J., et al (2018). Language continuity despite population replacement in Remote Oceania. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2(4), 731-740. [More Information]
Zubrzycka, A., Jones, M., Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Spriggs, M., Shing, R. (2018). Misi Gete's mission house: archaeological investigations of the oldest surviving colonial building in the New Hebrides. Australasian Historical Archaeology, 36, 38-46. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Valentin, F., Shing, R., Kuautonga, T., Zinger, W. (2018). Preliminary results of the South Vanuatu archaeological survey: Cultural landscapes, excavation, and radiocarbon dating. Asian Perspectives, 57(2), 244-266. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2017). Reform and Purification in the Historical Archaeology of the South Pacific, 1840-1900. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 21(4), 827-847. [More Information]
Flexner, J., McCoy, M. (2016). After the missionaries: Historical archaeology and traditional religious sites in the Hawaiian Islands. J P S (The Journal of the Polynesian Society), 125(3), 307-331. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2016). Archaeology and Ethnographic Collections: Disentangling Provenance, Provenience, and Context in Vanuatu Assemblages. Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, 4(1), 167-180. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2016). Dark and bright futures for museum archaeology. Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, 4(1), 1-3. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Jones, M., Evans, P. (2016). Destruction of the 1912 Lenakel Church (Tanna, Vanuatu) in Cyclone Pam, and Thoughts for the Future of the Site. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 20(2), 463-469. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2016). Ethnology collections as supplements and records: what museums contribute to historical archaeology of the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). World Archaeology, 48(2), 196-209. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Kirch, P. (2016). Field Mapping and Polynesian Prehistory: A Methodological History and Thoughts for the Future. Seances de la Societe Prehistorique Francaise, 7, 15-30.
Flexner, J., Willie, E., Lorey, A., Alderson, H., Robert, W., Ieru, S. (2016). Iarisi's Domain: Historical Archaeology of a Melanesian Village, Tanna Island, Vanuatu. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 11(1), 26-49. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Ball, A. (2016). Sherds of Paradise: Domestic Archaeology and Ceramic Artefacts from a Protestant Mission in the South Pacific. European Journal of Archaeology, 19(4), 728-754. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Jones, M., Evans, P. (2015). 'Because it is a Holy House of God': Buildings archaeology, globalization, and community heritage in a Tanna church. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 19(2), 262-288. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Spriggs, M. (2015). Mission sites as indigenous heritage in southern Vanuatu. Journal of Social Archaeology, 15(2), 184-209. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2014). Historical Archaeology, Contact, and Colonialism in Oceania. Journal of Archaeological Research, 22(1), 43-87. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2014). Mapping local perspectives in the historical archaeology of vanuatu mission landscapes. Asian Perspectives, 53(1), 2-28. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2014). The Historical Archaeology of States and Non-States: Anarchist Perspectives from Hawaii and Vanuatu. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 5(2), 81-97.
Flexner, J. (2013). Mission archaeology in Vanuatu: Preliminary findings, problems, and prospects. Australasian Historical Archaeology, 31, 14-24. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2012). An Institution that was a Village: Archaeology and Social Life in the Hansen's Disease Settlement at Kalawao, Moloka'i, Hawaii. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 16(1), 135-163. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2011). Bottles, abandonment, and re-visitation in the Hansen's disease settlement at Kalawao, Moloka'i: Implications for site formation processes and interpretation in surface middens. Hawaiian Archaeology, 12, 108-124.
Flexner, J. (2011). Foreign Animals, Hawaiian Practices: Zooarchaeology in the Leprosarium at Kalawao, Moloka'i, Hawaii. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 2(1), 82-91.
Flexner, J. (2009). Where is Reflexive Map-Making in Archaeological research? Towards a Place-Based Approach. Archaeological Review From Cambridge, 24(1), 7-21.

show 45 more

Edited Journals

Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Jones, M. (2020). The archaeology of missions and missionisation in Australasia and the Pacific. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 11(2).
Flexner, J., Gonzalez-Tennant, E. (2018). Forum: Anarchy and Archaeology. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 5(2). [More Information]
Flexner, J., Message, K. (2016). Current Approaches to Museum Archaeology. Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, 4(1).

Magazine / Newspaper Articles

Rawlings, V., Flexner, J., Riley, L. (2021). For too long, research was done on First Nations peoples, not with them. Universities can change this. The Conversation. [More Information]

By Year

Expand all

2024

Zinger, W., Valentin, F., Spriggs, M., Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Willie, E., Kuautonga, T., Détroit, F. (2024). "Feeling at home in Vanuatu": Integration of newcomers from the East during the last millennium. PloS One, 19(2024-01-01 00:00:00). [More Information]
Politopoulos, A., Frieman, C., Flexner, J., Borck, L. (2024). An Anarchist Archaeology of Equality: Pasts and Futures Against Hierarchy. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. [More Information]
Zinger, W., Flexner, J., Bedford, S. (2024). Changing subsistence practices in pre-European populations of South Vanuatu. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 59, 104756. [More Information]
Miller, I., Youse, Z., Bickey, T., Haddow, E., Mate, G., Zubrzycka, A., Prangnell, J., Fairbairn, A., Robinson, H., Baumgartl, T., Flexner, J. (2024). Developing a holistic and collaborative approach for the archaeology of Australian South Sea Islanders in Queensland. Archaeology in Oceania, , 1-15. [More Information]
Velsko, I., Fagernas, Z., Tromp, M., Bedford, S., Buckley, H., Clark, G., Dudgeon, J., Flexner, J., Galipaud, J., Kinaston, R., et al (2024). Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania. Nature Communications, 15(Article number 10191), 1-17. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2024). Local histories, global connections through the present. Europe and Oceania during the 19th and 20th centuries | Lokale Geschichten, globale Verbindungen bis in die Gegenwart. Europa und Ozeanien im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. In Claudia Theune, Barbara Hausmair, Christina Schmid (Eds.), The Historical Archaeology of the 19th and 20th Centuries | Das 19. und 20. Jahrhundert im Fokus der Historischen Archäologie, (pp. 230-239). Austria: Österreichische Gesellschaft für Mittelalter- und Neuzeitarchäologie | Austrian Society for Medieval and Modern Archaeology.
Flexner, J. (2024). Optimism, utopia, and blue-green futures for the archaeology of Oceania. Australian Archaeology, 90(1), 33-35. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Spriggs, M. (2024). Sauvagerie et soupe cannibale. Transformation d’un mythe au sud du Vanuatu. In Gwénael Murphy and Dominique Barbe (Eds.), Le Cannibale Dévêtu: Traces récits et représentations de l’anthropophagie en Océanie du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours, (pp. 221-231). Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.

show 5 more

2023

Jorgensen, N., Way, A., Flexner, J. (2023). A 600–700-year-old basalt adze production site from Mount Bates, Norfolk Island. Archaeology in Oceania, , 1-11. [More Information]
Berihuete-Azorín, M., Blackmore, C., Borck, L., Flexner, J., Frieman, C., Herrmann, C., Kiddey, R. (2023). Archaeology in 2022: Counter-myths for hopeful futures. American Anthropologist. [More Information]

2022

Flexner, J. (2022). Archaeology and Kastom: Island historicities and transforming religious traditions in Southern Vanuatu. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 29(4), 1367-1386. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Valentin, F. (2022). Encompassing islandscapes in southern Vanuatu. In Ann Brysbaert, Irene Vikatou and Jari Pakkanen (Eds.), Shaping Cultural Landscapes: Connecting Agriculture, Crafts, Construction, Transport, and Resilience Strategies, (pp. 117-132). Leiden: Sidestone Press.
Flexner, J. (2022). Ethnographic collections and archaeological research. In Alice Stevenson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Museum Archaeology, (pp. 374-386). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Taki, J. (2022). Fear of a cannibal island: Colonial fear, everyday life, and event landscapes in the Erromango missions of Vanuatu. Journal of Social Archaeology, 22(1), 104-127. [More Information]
Valentin, F., Zinger, W., Fenwick, A., Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Willie, E., Kuautonga, T. (2022). Patterns of Mortuary Practice over Millennia in Southern Vanuatu, South Melanesia. Asian Perspectives, 61(1), 112-142. [More Information]
Shaw, I., Jones, M., Flexner, J., Bedford, S. (2022). Prefabrication, Patrilineality, and Intergenerational Reuse: The Ruined Third Church of Aniwa, Southern Vanuatu, and its Integration into Domestic Architecture. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 26(3), 573-598. [More Information]
Barker, C., Robinson, H., Flexner, J., Lawrenson, A., Burchmore, A. (2022). The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine (A Conversation). Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, 10, 159-169. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2022). ‘With the consent of the tribe:’ Marking lands on Tanna and Erromango, New Hebrides. History and Anthropology, 33(1), 67-85. [More Information]

show 5 more

2021

Flexner, J. (2021). Anarchist theory in the Pacific and 'Pacific anarchists' in archaeological thought. In Tim Thomas (Eds.), Theory in the Pacific, the Pacific in Theory: Archaeological Perspectives, (pp. 200-216). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2021). Archaeology, anarchism, decolonization, and degrowth through the lens of Frase's four futures. Archaeological Dialogues, 28(1), 16-19. [More Information]
Rawlings, V., Flexner, J., Riley, L. (2021). Community-Led Research: Walking new pathways together. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Rawlings, V., Flexner, J., Riley, L. (2021). For too long, research was done on First Nations peoples, not with them. Universities can change this. The Conversation. [More Information]
Rawlings, V., Flexner, J., Riley, L. (2021). Introduction: Walking many paths towards a community-led paradigm. In V. Rawlings, J. Flexner & L. Riley (Eds.), Community-Led Research: Walking new pathways together, (pp. 1-8). Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Flexner, J. (2021). Oceania, 800-1800CE: A Millennium of Interactions in a Sea of Islands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
Zinger, W., Valentin, F., Spriggs, M., Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Kuautonga, T., Detroit, F. (2021). Polynesian integration in Vanuatu (Melanesia): case study of relationships between preexisting society and new-comers | [Intégration polynésienne au Vanuatu (Mélanésie): étude de cas sur les rapports entre société préexistante et individus migrants]. Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, 33(S). [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2021). The future of archaeology lies in not taking. Journal of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists, 8, 1-6.
Robinson, H., Flexner, J., Miller, I. (2021). What is a researcher? Definitions, bureaucracy and ironies in the Australian context. In V. Rawlings, J. Flexner & L. Riley (Eds.), Community-Led Research: Walking new pathways together, (pp. 89-106). Sydney: Sydney University Press. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2021). Who steers the canoe? Community-Led field archaeology in Vanuatu. In V. Rawlings, J. Flexner & L. Riley (Eds.), Community-Led Research: Walking new pathways together, (pp. 107-126). Sydney: Sydney University Press. [More Information]

show 7 more

2020

Flexner, J. (2020). Degrowth and a sustainable future for archaeology. Archaeological Dialogues, 27(2), 159-171. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2020). Gendering the archaeology of the mission frontier in the New Hebrides. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 11(2), 11-20.
Zinger, W., Valentin, F., Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Detroit, F., Grimaud-Herve, D. (2020). How to explain Polynesian Outliers' heterogeneity. In Aymeric Hermann, Frederique Valentin, Christophe Sand and Emilie Nolet (Eds.), Networks and Monumentality in the Pacific, (pp. 62-77). Oxford: Archaeopress.
Chauvel, P., Flexner, J. (2020). Mapping Difference in the "Uniform" Workers' cottages of Maria Island, Tasmania. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 24(4), 902-919. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2020). Oceania. In C.E. Orser, Jr., A. Zarankin, P. Funari, S. Lawrence, J. Symonds (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Global Historical Archaeology, (pp. 712-730). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Jones, M. (2020). The archaeology of missions and missionisation in Australasia and the Pacific. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 11(2).
Flexner, J., Muir, B., Bedford, S., Valentin, F., Elena, D., Samoria, D. (2020). Transforming mortuary rituals in "Christian" Oceania: Post-mission cemeteries from Aniwa, Vanuatu. J P S (The Journal of the Polynesian Society), 129(3), 303-326. [More Information]

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2019

Leclerc, M., Flexner, J. (2019). Archaeologies of Island Melanesia: Current approaches to landscapes, exchange and practice. Canberra: ANU Press.
Flexner, J., Leclerc, M. (2019). Complexities and diversity in archaeologies of Island Melanesia. In Mathieu Leclerc, James Flexner (Eds.), Archaeologies of Island Melanesia: Current approaches to landscapes, exchange and practice, (pp. 1-5). Canberra: ANU Press. [More Information]
Pengilley, A., Brand, C., Flexner, J., Specht, J., Torrence, R. (2019). Detecting exchange networks in New Britain, Papua New Guinea: geochemical comparisons between ax-adze blades and in situ volcanic rock sources. Archaeology in Oceania, 54(3), 200-213. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Lindstrom, L., Hickey, F., Kapere, J. (2019). Kaio, kapwier, nepek, and nuk: Human and non-human agency and 'conservation' on Tanna, Vanuatu. In Bas Verschuuren and Steve Brown (Eds.), Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature in Protected Areas: Governance, Management and Policy, (pp. 251-263). Oxon: Routledge.
Flexner, J., Willie, E., Horrocks, M. (2019). Sustenance and sustainability: Food remains and contact sites in Vanuatu. In Mathieu Leclerc, James Flexner (Eds.), Archaeologies of Island Melanesia: Current approaches to landscapes, exchange and practice, (pp. 135-147). Canberra: ANU Press. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Valentin, F. (2019). Who was Polynesian? Who was Melanesian? Hybridity and ethnogenesis in the South Vanuatu Outliers. Journal of Social Archaeology, 19(3), 403-426. [More Information]

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2018

Flexner, J., Gonzalez-Tennant, E. (2018). Anarchy and Archaeology : introduction. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 5(2), 213-219. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2018). Doing Archaeology in Non-State Space. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 5(2), 254-259. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Field, J., McCoy, M., Ladefoged, T., Kirch, P. (2018). Foreign material culture from Hawaiian households in Leeward Kohala. Australasian Historical Archaeology, 36, 29-37. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Gonzalez-Tennant, E. (2018). Forum: Anarchy and Archaeology. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 5(2). [More Information]
Posth, C., Nagele, K., Colleran, H., Valentin, F., Bedford, S., Kami, K., Shing, R., Buckley, H., Kinaston, R., Walworth, M., Flexner, J., et al (2018). Language continuity despite population replacement in Remote Oceania. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2(4), 731-740. [More Information]
Zubrzycka, A., Jones, M., Bedford, S., Flexner, J., Spriggs, M., Shing, R. (2018). Misi Gete's mission house: archaeological investigations of the oldest surviving colonial building in the New Hebrides. Australasian Historical Archaeology, 36, 38-46. [More Information]
Haddow, E., Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Spriggs, M. (2018). Pendants and beads of stone, shell, and tooth from southern Vanuatu. In Michelle C. Langley, Mirani Litster, Duncan Wright, Sally K. May (Eds.), The Archaeology of Portable Art: Southeast Asian, Pacific, and Australian Perspectives, (pp. 102-124). Oxon: Routledge. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Bedford, S., Valentin, F., Shing, R., Kuautonga, T., Zinger, W. (2018). Preliminary results of the South Vanuatu archaeological survey: Cultural landscapes, excavation, and radiocarbon dating. Asian Perspectives, 57(2), 244-266. [More Information]

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2017

Flexner, J. (2017). Reform and Purification in the Historical Archaeology of the South Pacific, 1840-1900. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 21(4), 827-847. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Spriggs, M. (2017). When early modern colonialism comes late: Historical archaeology in Vanuatu. In Maria Cruz-Berrocal and Cheng-hwa Tsang (Eds.), Historical Archaeology of Early Modern Colonialism in Asia-Pacific: The Southwest Pacific and Oceanian Regions, (pp. 57-91). Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

2016

Flexner, J., McCoy, M. (2016). After the missionaries: Historical archaeology and traditional religious sites in the Hawaiian Islands. J P S (The Journal of the Polynesian Society), 125(3), 307-331. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2016). An Archaeology of Early Christianity in Vanuatu: Kastom and Religious Change on Tanna and Erromango, 1839-1920. Acton: ANU Press. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2016). Archaeology and Ethnographic Collections: Disentangling Provenance, Provenience, and Context in Vanuatu Assemblages. Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, 4(1), 167-180. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Spriggs, M., Bedford, S., Abong, M. (2016). Beginning Historical Archaeology in Vanuatu: Recent Projects on the Archaeology of Spanish, French, and Anglophone Colonialism. In Sandra Monton-Subias, Maria Cruz Berrocal, and Apen Ruiz Martinez (Eds.), Archaeologies of Early Modern Spanish Colonialism, (pp. 205-227). Cham: Springer. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Message, K. (2016). Current Approaches to Museum Archaeology. Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, 4(1).
Flexner, J. (2016). Dark and bright futures for museum archaeology. Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, 4(1), 1-3. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Jones, M., Evans, P. (2016). Destruction of the 1912 Lenakel Church (Tanna, Vanuatu) in Cyclone Pam, and Thoughts for the Future of the Site. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 20(2), 463-469. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2016). Ethnology collections as supplements and records: what museums contribute to historical archaeology of the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). World Archaeology, 48(2), 196-209. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Kirch, P. (2016). Field Mapping and Polynesian Prehistory: A Methodological History and Thoughts for the Future. Seances de la Societe Prehistorique Francaise, 7, 15-30.
Flexner, J., Willie, E., Lorey, A., Alderson, H., Robert, W., Ieru, S. (2016). Iarisi's Domain: Historical Archaeology of a Melanesian Village, Tanna Island, Vanuatu. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 11(1), 26-49. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Ball, A. (2016). Sherds of Paradise: Domestic Archaeology and Ceramic Artefacts from a Protestant Mission in the South Pacific. European Journal of Archaeology, 19(4), 728-754. [More Information]

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2015

Flexner, J., Jones, M., Evans, P. (2015). 'Because it is a Holy House of God': Buildings archaeology, globalization, and community heritage in a Tanna church. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 19(2), 262-288. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Spriggs, M. (2015). Mission sites as indigenous heritage in southern Vanuatu. Journal of Social Archaeology, 15(2), 184-209. [More Information]

2014

Flexner, J. (2014). Historical Archaeology, Contact, and Colonialism in Oceania. Journal of Archaeological Research, 22(1), 43-87. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2014). Mapping local perspectives in the historical archaeology of vanuatu mission landscapes. Asian Perspectives, 53(1), 2-28. [More Information]
Flexner, J. (2014). The Historical Archaeology of States and Non-States: Anarchist Perspectives from Hawaii and Vanuatu. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 5(2), 81-97.

2013

Flexner, J. (2013). Mission archaeology in Vanuatu: Preliminary findings, problems, and prospects. Australasian Historical Archaeology, 31, 14-24. [More Information]
Flexner, J., Morgan, C. (2013). The Industrious Exiles: An Analysis of Flaked Glass Tools from the Leprosarium at Kalawao, Molokai. In Jeb J.Card (Eds.), The Archaeology of Hybrid Material Culture, (pp. 295-317). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

2012

Flexner, J. (2012). An Institution that was a Village: Archaeology and Social Life in the Hansen's Disease Settlement at Kalawao, Moloka'i, Hawaii. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 16(1), 135-163. [More Information]

2011

Flexner, J. (2011). Bottles, abandonment, and re-visitation in the Hansen's disease settlement at Kalawao, Moloka'i: Implications for site formation processes and interpretation in surface middens. Hawaiian Archaeology, 12, 108-124.
Flexner, J. (2011). Foreign Animals, Hawaiian Practices: Zooarchaeology in the Leprosarium at Kalawao, Moloka'i, Hawaii. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 2(1), 82-91.

2009

Flexner, J. (2009). Where is Reflexive Map-Making in Archaeological research? Towards a Place-Based Approach. Archaeological Review From Cambridge, 24(1), 7-21.

Selected Grants

2022

Archaeologies of community and colonialism in Oceania, Flexner J, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Future Fellowships (FT)

2019

Archaeology, collections and Australian South Sea Islander lived identities, Flexner J, Robinson H, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Projects (LP)

2016

3000 Years of settlement and interaction in southern Vanuatu, Flexner J, Bedford S, Valentin F, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP)

2011

Summer Lenfest Grant, Flexner J, Washington and Lee University/Summer Lenfest Grant

2010

Summer Lenfest Grant, Flexner J, Washington and Lee University/Summer Lenfest Grant

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

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Associate Professor James Flexner

Selected publications

Publications

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By Year

Selected Grants

2022

2019

2016

2011

2010

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