CONFERENCES

PAPERS AND POSTERS
2026
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Surfports and the Smallscale Slave Trade from the Malagueta Coast (Liberia).” Paper. Renaissance Studies Association. San Francisco. Feb. 19-21, 2026. *Accepted
  • Crutcher, Megan. “New comers to a strange and sickly country”: Colonial Missionaries and Mobility in West Africa.” Paper. Society for Historical Archaeology. Detroit. Jan. 7-10, 2026. *Accepted

2025
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Ceramics as Resistance: Imported and Indigenous Ceramics from Southeastern Liberia, West Africa as Tools of Anticolonial Resistance and Agency.” Paper. European Association of Archaeologists. Virtual, Belgrade. Sept. 3-6, 2025.
  • Colloqium Member. Atlantic Empires: Slavery, Race, and War. The Folger Institute and Library. Washington, D.C. 2024-2025.
  • Crutcher, Megan, Ellen Hsieh, Olivia Thomas, Christin Heamagi, Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé, Kelsey Rooney, Elena Perez-Alvaro, Grace Désiree Grodji, Aminata Mbaye, Abhirada Pook Komoot, Isabel Rivera-Collazo, Hanna Steyne, and Annaliese Dempsey. “Can We Co-Create an Intersectional Feminist Maritime Archaeology? Maritime Archaeology and Gender Diversity.” Panel. Society for Historical Archaeology. New Orleans, Jan. 8-11, 2025.
  • O’Connell, Ellie and Megan Crutcher. “The Liberian Kru in the Atlantic World: A Visual Historical-Archaeological Timeline.” Poster. Society for Historical Archaeology. New Orleans, Jan. 8-11, 2025.
  • Kennedy, Carolyn and Megan Crutcher. “Challenging Exoticization: Maritime Archaeology Logistics in West Africa and Eastern Canada.” Paper. Society for Historical Archaeology. New Orleans, Jan. 8-11, 2025.

2024
  • Crutcher, Megan and Madicke Gueye. “Maritime Archaeology in West Africa: Environmental Histories, Changing Landscapes, and Archaeologies of Activism.” Paper. African Studies Association. Chicago, Dec. 11-14, 2024.
  • Crutcher, Megan and Prince Kondeh. “The Kru/Krao Coast Heritage Initiative: Oral History, Local Memory, and Archival Silences in Sinoe County, Liberia.” Paper. Oral History Association. Cincinnati, Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2024.
  • Crutcher, Megan and Prince Kondeh. “The Krao Coast Heritage Initiative: Doing Coastal Archaeology in Southeastern Liberia.” Paper. European Association of Archaeologists. Rome, Aug. 28-31, 2024.
  • Danquah, Ebenezer Mintah, Megan Crutcher, Prince Kondeh, Jeffery Gunn. “Kru (Krao) History, Heritage, and Diaspora in the Context of Liberia.” Panel (3 papers). Liberian Studies Association. Ithaca, Apr. 18-20, 2024.
  • Crutcher, Megan and Kevin Johnson. “Black Panther as Anthropology; Anthropology as Poetry.” Paper. Afrofuturism Explored! College Station, Feb. 18-19, 2024.
  • Crutcher, Megan, Prince Kondeh, and Jah Christopher Morris. “‘Mississippi Street Was Eaten by the Sea’: Urgent Threats to Coastal Heritage in Liberia.” Paper. Society for Historical Archaeology. Oakland, Jan. 3-6, 2024.

2023
  • Crutcher, Megan and Kelsey Rooney. “Narratives of African Maritimity: Early Modern Images of Africans and Their Watercraft.” Paper. European Association of Archaeologists. Belfast, Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2023.
  • Berrocal, Raul Palomino, and Megan Crutcher. “A Preliminary Study of the Earliest Known Archaeological Watercraft in Northern Spain.” Poster. Vaughn M. Bryant Memorial Anthropology Conference. College Station, Apr. 2023.
  • Zak, Claire, Megan Crutcher, Charlotte Jarvis, and Sheri Kapahnke. “Life Under Water: Maritime Archaeology and Climate Change.” Poster. Life on a Dynamic Planet Symposium. College Station, Feb. 2023.
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Appropriating Language: The Historical-Archaeological Context of ‘Grumetes’ in Sources on West African Mariners.” Paper. Society for Historical Archaeology. Lisbon, Jan. 3-7, 2023.
  • Varmer, Ole, Louise Sanger, Athena L. Trakadas, Ben Ferrari, Laura Boon, Sheryllynne Haggerty, Cassandra Gooptar, Alix Mortimer, Maria Pena Ermida, and Megan Crutcher. “Learning from the Past for a Shared, Sustainable Ocean Future.” Panel. Society for Historical Archaeology. Lisbon, Jan. 3-7, 2023,

2022
  • Crutcher, Megan. “GIS Mapping Maritime Cultural Landscapes in Liberia and Sierra Leone.” Paper. European Association of Archaeologists. Budapest, Aug. 31-Sept. 3, 2022.
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Defining the Terms: A Review of Trends in Maritime Public Archaeology.” Poster. National Council on Public History. Virtual, May 2022.
  • Crutcher, Megan. “GIS Mapping Maritime Archaeology in Liberia.” Poster. Vaughn M. Bryant Memorial Anthropology Conference. College Station, Apr. 2022.
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Mediating Empire: Liberian ‘Krumen’ in Atlantic History.” Paper. History Graduate Student Organization (HGSO). College Station, Mar. 18-19, 2022.
  • Crutcher, Megan. “From Canoes to Canoemen in West African History: West African Seafaring Traditions and their Importance in Atlantic World History.” Paper. Charting African Waterscapes: A Conference on African Maritime History Across Time and Space. Virtual, Mar. 16-17, 2022.
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Biofilms, Biocolonization, and the Conservation of Marble from Submerged Archaeological Environments.” Paper. Society for Historical Archaeology. Philadelphia, Jan. 4-7, 2022.

2021
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Reinterpreting Anne Bonny and Mary Reade: Public History and the Commemoration of Piracy, Sexuality, and Gender in Maritime Spaces.” North American Society for Oceanic History. Virtual, Jul. 2021.
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Cultural Heritage, Cultural Rights, and Human Rights: A Statistical Analysis.” Poster. Vaughn M. Bryant Memorial Anthropology Conference. College Station, Apr. 2021.
  • Discussant. Cultural Heritage 360: Arts and Science. UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. Virtual, Apr. 2021.
  • Crutcher, Megan and Celestin Mpagaze. “Oral History as a Tool for Activism: The Pittsburgh Refugee Stories Oral History Initiative.” National Council on Public History. Virtual (Zoom), Mar. 2021.

2020
  • **Bisso-Schmidt, Benito, Marc Stein, Megan Crutcher, and Sabrina Schoch. “Queer Public History.” International Federation for Public History-Federation International pour L'Histoire Publique. Berlin, Aug. 2020.
  • **Smyth, Hannah, Richard Legay, and Megan Crutcher. “Public History Education: International Perspectives.” International Federation for Public History-Federation International pour L'Histoire Publique. Berlin, Aug. 2020. 
  • **Crutcher, Megan and Amy Covell-Murthy. “What They Ate and What They Drank and What They Threw Away: Using Conservation to Continue Verna Cowin’s Historic Urban Archaeology.” Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. Ligonier, Apr. 2020. 
  • **Crutcher, Megan. “Visitor Research in Conservation." American Institute for Conservation. Salt Lake City, Apr. 2020.
  • **Crutcher, Megan. “African Cultural Heritage Preservation Is a Human Right.” Penn State University Center for African Studies. State College, Apr. 2020.
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Student Films: A Message of Liberation.” National Council on Public History. Online asynchronous, Mar. 2020. https://thehistoriansgaze.weebly.com/a-message-of-liberation-megan-crutcher.html
  • **Walrath, Stephanie, Megan Crutcher, and Taylor Noakes. “Refugees of Pittsburgh: Using Oral History as a tool of Empathy and Activism.” Oral History Association. Baltimore, Mar. 2020.
**Accepted, paper drafted, conference cancelled due to COVID-19.

2019

  • Young Professional Panelist, Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Conference. Pittsburgh, Nov. 2019.
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Engaging Visitors with Conservation: The Data.” Duquesne University Graduate Research Symposium. Pittsburgh, Apr. 2019.
  • Discussant. Children, Youth and Labor on the Eve of Independence. Duquesne University Center for African Studies, Department of History, and University of Pittsburgh Department of History. Pittsburgh, Apr. 2019.

SESSIONS AND COLLOQUIA CHAIRED/ORGANIZED
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Public History and Public Archaeology in West Africa.” National Council on Public History. Sept. 16-19, 2026. *Submitted.
  • Crutcher, Megan and Afonso Leão. Session 1. Society for Postmedieval Archaeology. Lisbon, Apr. 11-13, 2025. (8 papers).
  • Crutcher, Megan. “Can We Co-Create an Intersectional Feminist Maritime Archaeology? Maritime Archaeology and Gender Diversity.” Society for Historical Archaeology. New Orleans, Jan. 8-11, 2025. (12 panelists).
  • Nabais, Mariana, Megan Crutcher, Tânia Casimiro, and Sónia Gabriel. Amphibious Archaeology, Waterscapes, and Fluidity. European Association of Archaeologists. Rome, Aug. 2024. (15 papers)
  • Crutcher, Megan. The Kru in Liberia. Liberian Studies Association. Ithaca, Apr. 18-20, 2024. (3 papers).
  • Martins, Ana Cristina, Megan Crutcher, Andrea Mouriño Schick, and Tânia Casimiro. Weaving Archaeology, Art, and Literature: Narratives and Representations. European Association of Archaeologists. Belfast, Aug. 2023. (15 papers)
  • Crutcher, Megan. Maritime Archaeology in West Africa. Society for Historical Archaeology. Lisbon, Jan. 3-7, 2023. (7 papers)
  • Crutcher, Megan. Trade and Mobilities by River and Sea. Charting African Waterscapes: A Conference on African Maritime History Across Time and Space. Virtual, Mar. 2022. (4 papers)
  • Crutcher, Megan and Jennifer Taylor. The Historian’s Gaze: Moving Images and Visual Texts in Public Interpretation of Social Justice Issues. National Council on Public History. Virtual, Mar. 2020. (4 papers) www.thehistoriansgaze.weebly.com