Margaret Bruchac, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Coordinator of Native American Studies

BA: Smith College (Smith Scholar in Theater and History)
MA: University of Massachusetts Amherst (Cultural Anthropology)
PhD: University of Massachusetts Amherst (Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology)

Department:
    Department of Anthropology and Native American Studies Program
    (see also http://www.anth.uconn.edu/degree_programs/Culturalhis/index.php)

Subject Areas:
    Native American histories and material culture; cultural performance and representation; American colonial encounters; ethnohistory and historical achaeology; indigenous studies.

Courses Taught:
    ANTH 3027: Contemporary Native Americans (syllabus)
    ANTH 3095: Anthropology of Museums (syllabus)
    ANTH 3451: Native American Arts
    AMST 1201: Introduction to American Studies

Research and academic interests:
    Algonkian Indian oral traditions and material culture; ethnographic practices among indigenous peoples; decolonizing methodologies; transcultural and transnational relations on the colonial frontier; cultural performance and representation in living history museums; cultural property and repatriation issues; indigenous archaeologies; popular memory and historical landscapes.

Other interests:
    Living history museum interpretation, music and storytelling performance, English ritual dance.

Personal Statement:
    As a person of indigenous ancestry, I am particularly attuned to colonial legacies that have shaped the “hidden histories” of northeastern Algonkian Indian peoples. My work encourages cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary dialogue and study. Students in any discipline can learn a great deal from studying processes of resistance, revitalization, and survivance among Native Americans. As an educator, I strive to help students understand how power and knowledge are constructed and negotiated in the academy and in the world, as a means of appreciating diverse cultural beliefs and experiences while discerning how their own unique skills might be best put to use.

Special Initiatives:
    Coordinator of 2009-2010 Avery Point Learning Community, "Looking for Indians: Indigenous People and the Environment"