Work with Graduate Students
In the narrative given here, I describe the work of student-colleagues with whom I have worked or with whom I continue to work. Obviously, a few words here cannot do justice to the complex and interesting projects that these folks are pursuing. Those interested in the particular work described can follow up with the individual scholars. It has been, and remains, a real honor to collaborate with these smart, interesting folks.
(1) Social Complexity in Native North America
One group of current and former student colleagues is pursuing research that possesses direct continuities with my own efforts aimed at understanding social complexity and intercultural relations among the peoples of Eastern North America, particularly those communities found today in Eastern and Central Oklahoma. A few students are pursuing similar projects in other parts of Indian Country.
Having completed his doctorate in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma in 2003, Dr. Brice Obermeyer is now an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Emporia State University. His dissertation, which he is now revising for publication as a book, focuses on Eastern Delaware identity within the context of ongoing Delaware political struggles with the Cherokee Nation. Brice works on NAGPRA related grant projects for the Delaware Tribe and has received grants from the American Philosophical Society, the National Park Service and the Institute for Museum and Library Services. [more]
Dr. Rhonda Fair earned her doctorate in anthropology from the University of Oklahoma in 2007. Rhonda presently works as the Tribal Liaison for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s Cultural Resource Program. Her dissertation adopts a social networks approach to examine the role of individuals and cultural heritage groups in the reproduction of traditional culture among the Caddo and Western Delaware. The National Science Foundation was the primary funding agency for Rhonda’s work. [more]
Dr. Kristy Feldhousen Giles is a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Bates College and a doctoral graduate in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. She has recently completed a dissertation examining the history and present-day circumstances of various Freedmen communities among the five large Southeastern Nations in Oklahoma—Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole. Her project unfolds within the current context of efforts by Freedmen groups to contest their disenfranchisement at the hands of tribal political leaders. The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research is among the agencies that have funded Kristy’s research.
Wyman Kirk is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who teaches Cherokee language and culture as an assistant professor at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. A doctoral student at Indiana University, he is currently writing his dissertation, a historically informed ethnography of Oklahoma Cherokee community life.
A doctoral student in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, Jessica Walker has previously collaborated with the Absentee Shawnee community in an M.A. project focused on personal experience narrative and diabetes. Her current work examines the place of Christianity and Christian mission churches in Absentee Shawnee communities and in local understandings of culture. She has received support for her research from the American Philosophical Society and other sources.
Timothy McCollum is currently pursuing doctoral field research among, and archival research concerning, the Sac and Fox community in Oklahoma. This work examines the ongoing importance of traditional naming and kinship practices in community life. Tim is a doctoral student in anthropology at Indiana University and his work builds on many years of collaboration with Sac and Fox community members. He is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Oklahoma Baptist University and his OBU campus webpage can be found here.
Meredith Johnson is a doctoral student in anthropology at Indiana University. Living and working in Oklahoma, she presently serves as an Anthropology Research Specialist in the Department of Chickasaw Studies, a unit of the Chickasaw Nation’s Division of History and Culture. She is currently undertaking dissertation fieldwork exploring storytelling and its implications for cultural revitalization, tribal nationalism and Indian identity in the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. Her work is being supported by the Jacobs Research Fund of the Whatcom Museum.
Tierza Askren (née Draper) is an writer, writer, and independent folklorist. While a student in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma she completed an M.A. thesis exploring the collective life history of a culturally cosmopolitan extended family with roots in both Lebanon and the Choctaw Indian community around Ardmore, Oklahoma. Information on her current work can be found at http://www.tierzaaskren.com.
Working elsewhere in the Woodlands region are three students with whom I collaborate.
Deborah Colbert is a doctoral student in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. She is presently undertaking dissertation fieldwork examining questions of tradition, healing, and multicultural identity among the Native American communities of New England. She lives in Maine, where she is pursuing this project.
Zsuzsanna Cselenyi is a doctoral student in folklore at Indiana University. Her dissertation research is focusing on powwows in the Great Lakes/Midwest region, particularly those held away from large reservation communities. Of special interest to Zsuzsanna is the place of dance clothes in the negotiation of social relations and identity within these events.
Mathew Bradley is a doctoral student in anthropology at Indiana University. An anthropological linguist in training, Mathew’s work focuses on the language and culture of his home community in Cherokee North Carolina.
Sarah Gordon is a doctoral student in folklore at Indiana University. She holds an M.A. in comparative literature from University College London. Her research has focused on Native American literature and translation theory. She is preparing for work on issues of translation in Native North American oral literature and hopes to collaborate with an indigenous community in Canada or the eastern half of the United States.
Collaborating with native communities on the Great Plains are several students with whom I have worked.
Dr. Michelle Stokely is now a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Indiana University Northwest. She completed her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma in 2003. Her dissertation, which she is revising for publication as a book, explores the life history of Alfred Chalepah, Sr., a key individual in the political and cultural life of the Plains Apache community of Western Oklahoma.
Dr. Sarah Quick is an ethnomusicologist and cultural anthropologist who just recently completed her doctorate in anthropology at Indiana University. Sarah’s dissertation focuses on the importance of fiddle music in the life of Métis people on the northern Plains. She has also written about powwows in the Southeastern United States and about color perception. Her work has been funded by the Newberry Library and other sources. She has published in Ethnologies, the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, the Journal of American Folklore and other journals.
Dr. Jethro Gaede earned the Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma and is on the permanent faculty at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York. Jethro’s dissertation is a social and cultural history of the American Indian Exposition, a key intertribal festival on the Southern Plains that is held annually in Anadarko, Oklahoma, Jethro’s hometown.
While an M.A. student in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, Darlynn Dietrich completed a thesis project on the collective life history of a Canadian Dakota family from the Sioux Valley Reserve in Canada. She is now a doctoral student in anthropology at Indiana University and she intends to continue ethnographic and ethnohistorical research related to the Canadian Sioux.
David Posthumus is a Ph.D. student in cultural anthropology at Indiana University. His work is focused on the ethnohistory of the Lakota Sioux of the Norther Plains of the U.S. and Canada.
Because they came on the scene as I was leaving for Indiana University, I did not have the pleasure of working formally with two students in the graduate program in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. Despite this loss, I regularly talk shop with them and I find their work among the Kiowa compelling. Both are in dialogue with the community of scholars whose work is described here. Michael Jordan is pursuing doctoral work on art, identity, and cultural performances among the Kiowa, having completed earlier projects on Kiowa fine art and material culture. Michael’s dissertation work is being funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and by the National Science Foundation. Amber Neely’s doctoral studies focus on Kiowa language and culture, including the role of language ideology in current language revitalization efforts. She will soon publish a series of essays based on her preliminary work on this topic.
I have worked with two students whose research interests have taken them to the native Southwest.
While an M.A. student in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, Amy Spears completed a thesis project examining the place of the international boundary separating the U.S. from Mexico in the identities and policies of the Tohono O’odham people who live on both sides of it. Following graduation, Amy taught anthropology and sociology at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson, Connecticut and facilitated an NIH-funded research project on drinking among college students at the University of Rhode Island. She currently works as a researcher in the Development Office at Princeton University
At Indiana University, Kimberly Marshall is a doctoral student in both the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. She has recently completed an extended period of doctoral field research among the Navajo in which she studied the role of music in the life of Navajo Evangelical Christians, particularly the musical performance practices central to the active tent revival circuit. Her work is being supported by the Jacobs Research Fund (Whatcom Museum) and other sources.
Also at Indiana University, Kellie Hogue is a doctoral student in American Studies and Anthropology. Her research is translocal in focus and considers the history and contemporary significance of Kateri Circles for American Indian/First Nations peoples of Catholic faith. Kateri Circles are comprised of people who seek to emulate the life of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a young Mohawk woman (1656-1680) now being considered for cannonization in the Catholic Church.
Another Indiana University student on whose research committee I serve is Mintzi Martinez-Rivera. She is working toward a double Ph.D. in folklore and in anthropology and is presently undertaking dissertation fieldwork among the P’urhépecha in Michoacán, México. Her work focuses on indigenous culture and identity, particularly among young adults.
(2) Heritage Policy and Practices Worldwide
Several students with whom I am working are pursuing projects outside the context of Native North America. While these demonstrate a comparable diversity of interests to those being done in American Indian contexts, these students share a concern with questions of cultural heritage and identity, particularly as these are expressed in expressive culture and performance.
Three of these projects aim to contribute to theoretical work on heritage through ethnographic work in diverse Asian contexts.
Flory Gingging is a doctoral student in folklore at Indiana University. She has recently returned from a year spent doing research in Sabah, her home state in Malaysia, where she was studying the complexities of indigenous identity as communicated and negotiated in regular open air markets and other contexts that have come to be encompassed by cultural tourism. She is also exploring the link between tourism and indigenous identity in museums and tourist villages. Her research is being supported by the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Research Abroad program. She has published aspects of this work in the journal Cultural Analysis.
Focusing on related processes in Kazakhstan, Gabriel McGuire has recently returned to the United States from doctoral fieldwork examining the role of pastoral nomadism in Kazak ideas about nationhood and heritage, as well as in post-soviet economic and social life. Gabe is a doctoral student in folklore at Indiana University. The circulation of material culture is a key part of his project. His research is being supported by the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Research Abroad program.
In the unique context of the recent Beijing Summer Olympics, Curtis Ashton has been conducting doctoral field research on Chinese heritage policy. Museums and related public folklore undertakings are providing his special focus and he has arranged to collaborate with several Chinese institutions before, during and after the games. Before undertaking his work in China, Curtis had served as Editor in Chief for Folklore Forum.
(3) Public Practice, Museums and Material Culture
My basic interest in material culture studies and museum work has led me to work with a number of students whose work falls within these sectors.
Terri Jordan recently completed an M.A. in folklore and an M.L.S. in library science, both at Indiana University. Her special interest is in museum work and her folklore thesis project involved a research on, and curation of, a segment of the Wanamaker Collection of photographs at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures. Terri now works as a collections manager in the Department of Native American Languages at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. I had the pleasure of working with Terri on her M.A. at Indiana and, earlier, her undergraduate honors thesis in anthropology (when we were both at the University of Oklahoma).
Gabrielle Berlinger is a doctoral student in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. Her research interests connect museums, public folklore programs, and the study of material culture. She has just completed a thesis project on the significance of Sukkot in a Midwestern American Jewish community. Her work seeks to understand longstanding and emergent uses of ritual objects, art, and architecture in Jewish life. In 2007, she won the Raphael Patai Prize in Jewish Folklore and Ethnology. Her award-winning article will soon appear in Jewish Cultural Studies.
Xiaohong Chen is a doctoral student in folklore at Indiana University. Her research interests focus on Chinese folk art and craft. She is particularly interested in the role of traditional arts in modern China and the ways that these expressive forms are being transformed within the context of broader changes in Chinese society.
Janice Frisch, is an graduate student in folklore at Indiana University. She has previously curated exhibitions related to American quilts and Native American art, interests that she is carrying over into her graduate studies. She is presently studying the use of clothing in the making of quilts.
Carrie Hertz, a doctoral student in folklore at Indiana University, is interested in the material culture of contemporary life in western societies. Her interest is manifest in studies of clothing and interior design and she is particularly concerned with transposing vernacular architecture studies into research on home interiors and their changing significances in peoples lives. Her dissertation is focused on issues in dress studies. She has also written on the politics of heritage and property. She has published in Midwestern Folklore, Museum Anthropology, and Museum Anthropology Review.
Suzanne Ingalsbe is a graduate student in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University. Her work focuses on museums and material culture studies in United States. She has recently organized one museum exhibition on Indiana musical instrument builders and another one on 19th century fashion.
Jody Perkins is a graduate student in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University. She is focused on museums and material culture, with a special interest in foodways. She has recently curated exhibitions on a diverse range of topics–imaginary and created languages, cookbooks, and British Navy life. Her current research focused on community cookbooks in the United States.
Jon Kay is a public folklorist with a deep and distinguished resume in the field. He holds an M.A. in folklore from Western Kentucky University and has worked for various public folklore agencies, including the Florida Park Service, for which he directed the Florida Folklife Festival. He is now the full time director of Traditional Arts Indiana and is working on his Ph.D. in the IU Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology.
Teri Klassen is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. Her recent M.A. thesis explores the role of quilting in American life, focusing in particular on the variable ways that American women have incorporated quiltmaking into their lives in changing contexts. Her doctoral research will expand further her studies of American quilting, reconsidering the variable ways that quilting articulates with American social and cultural history viewed through the lens of contemporary material culture theory. Her research has been funded by the American Quilt Study Group and the Project on African Expressive Traditions. He has published extensively and has a paper forthcoming in the Journal of American Folklore.
Wei-Ping Lee is a doctoral student in folklore at Indiana University. Her doctoral research will focus on puppetry traditions in Taiwan. She has already initiated studies of this topic and her interests within it are broad, ranging from the material cultural to the performative and contextual. Her work is both ethnographic and historical in scope.
Arle Lommel is a folklore doctoral student in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. He has already published work in his research field of organology (the study of musical instruments). He is presently preparing for a dissertation project on the revival of folk instruments in the context of contemporary European nationalism. Hungary provides his special focus.
Selina Morales is an M.A. student in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. She has recently completed work on a research and museum exhibition project related to the life and work of a Puerto Rican espiritista healer. More information on the exhibition, which is titled “Botánica: A Pharmacy for the Soul,” can be found here.
Edward (Ned) Puchner is a doctoral student in art history who is minoring in folklore. Ned’s dissertation project focuses on issues of race, identity, and politics in the work of African American artists. He has gained extensive museum experience working at the Indiana University Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art and other institutions and he has published in Museum Anthropology Review and in Raw Vision.
Liora Sarfati is a doctoral student in the Departments of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University. With support from the Korea Foundation, she has completed dissertation field research in Seoul documenting Korean shamanic rituals, focusing particularly on the material culture used in these performances. She has contributed to various publications, including the Journal of American Folklore and JFR Reviews. With Shai Sarfati, she has produced a short film relating to her work. Find it here.
