Biography
Isis Dwyer is a biological and forensic anthropologist, with a focus on human skeletal variation in contemporary Black and Afro-descendant populations of the Americas. Her work takes a biocultural and race-conscious approach to human variation that acknowledges the ways race and racialization have shaped both the biological and cultural landscapes of diasporic Black populations. Her research explores patterns of morphological heterogeneity in contemporary Black populations that is often obscured by typological frameworks, with attention to the implications for the forensic identification of Black decedents and the stewardship of Black ancestral remains.
Dr. Dwyer received her B.A. in Anthropology and Cognitive Sciences from Johns Hopkins University. She received her M.A. in Anthropology, on the Human Skeletal Biology track from New York University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. Her work has been supported by the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
Current Projects and/or Research Interests:
Biological anthropology, forensic anthropology, contemporary human variation, race and racialization, collections ethics and metadata, African American and Afro-Caribbean diasporas, equity in forensic identification.
Selected Publications:
Dwyer, I. (2025). The Artifice of Urgency. Current Anthropology, 66(1), 110–111. Commentary in Colwell, C., & Rutherford, D. (2025). Grappling with the legacies of Anthro-cast: The work of bones in the age of mechanical reproduction. Current Anthropology, 66(1), 95–134.
Dwyer, I., Justinvil, D., Cunningham, A. (2023). Caribbeanist Casualties: Interrogating the application of structural vulnerability to forensic anthropology. Forensic Science International: Synergy; 100327.
Go, M.C., Dwyer, I., Loewen, T.N., Yukyi, N., Clemmons, C., Garcia, S.S., and Goliath, J.R. (2023). Pioneers of color: A counternarrative of foundational figures in forensic anthropology’s history. Forensic Anthropol 6: 206-217.