Ethnic Studies

I am a comparative and critical ethnic studies scholar interested in the intersections between ethnic studies, cultural geography, and indigenous studies.  My research focuses on issues of race, space, and indigenous geographies.  My book, Native Space: Indigenous Strategies to Unsettle Settler Colonialism (OSU Press, and the First Peoples series) illustrates the ways that Native people in North America sustain and create indigenous geographies in settler colonial nations.  My second book, A People's Guide to Portland and Beyond (pre-contract with UC Press), highlights lesser known sites of social justice and oppression across Portland.  I also write on pedagogy, contemporary media, college cultural centers, and popular culture.  My articles and chapters appear in Journal of Geography, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Diversity in Disney Films (MacFarland), Teaching Race in the 21st Century (Palgrave/Springer), Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, Nexus: Complicating Community and Centering the Self (Cognella), and Oregon Humanities.  

I have worked extensively with on-campus cultural centers [see this video on the OSU cultural centers], with a special emphasis on combining scholarship, mentoring, and community building.  Before joining Oregon State University I taught at a number of schools, including California College of the Arts (Critical Studies), San Francisco State University (American Indian Studies), and UC San Diego (Ethnic Studies).

I had the honor of interviewing some of OSU's Native American Longhouse staff, as part of a collaborative oral history project between the Longhouse, Ethnic Studies, and Oregon Multicultural Archives.

Student Research and Highlights

• Ethnic Studies Student Research Symposium: 2017 / 2018
• Oregon Archival Research Field Trip (April 25, 2017)
• Check out Ethnic Studies graduate Zandro Lerma's feature video and story for Spring 2014 commencement
• Social Justice Tours of Corvallis (#1, 2, and #3) -- all created by/with my Ethnohistory Methodology classes
    

Courses taught

• Making Alliances & Solidarities 
• Environmental Racism (including Honors)
• Introduction to Native American Studies (including Honors)
• Research Methods: Ethnic Studies
• Ethnohistory Methodology
• Native American Assimilation and Activism (including Honors)
• Public Discourse and Writing on Race (Writing Intensive Course)
• Introduction to Ethnic Studies
• Race, Space, and Difference
• Native American Experience in the 20th Century US
• Mapping Activism and Power in Portland and Beyond (Honors)
• London, Sugar, and Slavery (Honors-in London, summer 2017)
• Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity in Japan (Honors-in Tokyo, summer 2019)