Twelve faculty at the University of Oklahoma, representing departments spanning Native American studies, law, education, visual arts and more, will comprise an inaugural Research Consortia Leaders for the Native Nations Imprint of the University of Oklahoma Press.
Funded by a historic grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the imprint aims to deepen the University of Oklahoma Press’s Native American engagement in collaboration with OU’s Native Nations Center. Amanda Cobb-Greetham, professor of Native American studies and the founding director of the Native Nations Center, serves as the inaugural coordinator of the Native Nations Imprint.
“The imprint will produce a variety of types of scholarship and serve as open-source clearing house for a variety of scholarly resources for Tribal Nations,” said Cobb-Greetham.
Research Consortia Leaders will guide seven areas of strength in research at OU, charting a path forward for the Imprint’s development and implementation. Tribal community engagement is the foundational principle of each area and is facilitated in close coordination with OU Associate Vice President of Tribal Relations Tana Fitzpatrick.
Native Nations Press Research Consortia Leaders include multiple faculty from the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, including Raina Heaton, Laura Harjo, and Dustin Tahmahkera in the Department of Native American Studies; Brian Burkhart, Department of Philosophy and Interim Director of the Native Nations Center; Paul Spicer, Department of Anthropology; and Joshua Nelson, Department of English. Also leading Research Consortia are M. Alexander Pearl and Taiawagi Helton both in the College of Law; Natalie Youngbull in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education; Amanda Minks in the OU Honors College; Lina Ortega, associate curator at the Western History Collections and Native American studies subject specialist in the University Libraries; and Alicia Harris, assistant professor of Native American art history in the School of Visual Arts, Weitzenhoffer College of Fine Arts.
“The collective expertise of the research consortia leaders is truly breathtaking, and I know their contributions will make this imprint—the Native Nations Press—a creative and distinctive publication venue that draws on OU’s rich resources in a way that is responsive to the articulated needs of Tribal Nations,” said Cobb-Greetham.
The Native Nations Press is the signature initiative of a $500,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which was spearheaded by the OU Arts & Humanities Forum and supports public-facing humanities programming.
