Academic and Professional Portfolio

About

My teaching includes appointments as Asssitant Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University at Buffalo (SUNY, August 2022-Present), visiting Assistant Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Hampshire College(Jan 2021-May 2023) and Visiting Assistant Professor of American Studies at Brown University (Spring 2022). Prior to that, I was full-time faculty at SOWELA Technical Community College in Lake Charles, LA where I taught U.S. history, Louisiana history, and geography. 

I graduated from the Transatlantic History Doctoral Program from the Department of History and Geography at the University of Texas at Arlington, completing all coursework with a 4.0 and mastered comprehensive examinations in the fields of Migration History, Revolutions, Cartographic History and the History of Exploration and “Discovery.”

My dissertation, entitled “Indians in their Proper Place: Culture Areas, Linguistic Stocks, and the Genealogy of a Map” explores 150 years of thematic maps of American Indian homelands, languages, and culture.

ME VEDNING

Prior to doctoral studies, I graduated from the Master’s of Arts Heritage Resources Program at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana in May 2011.  That holistic program afforded me many research opportunities. The program also introduced and reinforced skills from a variety of fields, including:  interpretation methods,  materials conservation and preservation,  museum and historic sites management, CRM law, Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) documentation, oral history, and ethnography.

My wide-ranging academic and research interests include social history,cultural anthropology (especially cultural diffusion), cartographic history, history of social sciences, labor and working-class history, socio-cultural theory, folklore, American Indian studies, ethnohistory, political economy, foodways, religious studies and aesthetics. Additional geographical and theoretical interests include:  French/Spanish/ American Indian borderlands (and the Spanish North American frontier) of the 18th Century,  South and Southeast Asia,global labor migration, the Czech Republic and Central Europe.

I have experience in event planning, non-profit administration, and grants management.

I have studied at a variety of institutions, ranging from Bossier Parish Community College where I received an associates degree to Charles University in Prague where I studied Czech history, politics, and culture for two semesters. I received bachelor’s degrees in History and Anthropology from the University of New Orleans in 2001, and a Master’s of Science Degree in Labor Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2003. I have also completed graduate-level coursework in Education and Afro-American Studies.

Social network with me on FACEBOOK. Email me at Jamais.Vu@gmail.com or visit my blog.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

Spring 2023, New Faculty Academy on Writing and Publishing, University at Buffalo 

Fall 2020-Spring 2021. Scholar Workshops. School for Advanced Research. 

Summer 2019. Material Maps in the Digital Age, Newberry Library Four Week Summer Seminar (NEH Sposored)

Fall 2018- Spring 2019. Postgraduate Research Fellow, the University of Texas at Arlington

Summer 2016. Digital Native American and Indigenous Studies workshop (NEH sponsored)

Fall 2011- August 2018. University of Texas at Arlington Transatlantic History Ph.D. 

2009-2011. Northwestern State University M.A. Heritage Resources

2003. University of New Orleans Alternative Teacher Certification Program

2001-2003. University of Massachusetts Amherst, M.S. Labor Studies

1998-2001. University of New Orleans B.A. History; B.A. Anthropology

1992-1997. Bossier Parish Community College, A.G.S. Social Sciences

Selected Professional and Academic Memberships

American Historical Association     Organization of American Historians    American Society for Ethnohistory  The Southern Historical Association
Dallas Area Social History Group   Transatlantic History Student Organization

Texas State Historical Association   Louisiana Historical Association   Society for the History of “Discoveries”     Texas Map Society

Native American and Indigenous Studies Association     American Studies Association

Critical Ethnic Studies Association

Modern Language Association

Natchitoches Genealogical and Historical Association

American Association of Geographers

American Folklore Society (web only)

Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

                                                           Southern Foodways Alliance

MAHR Awards, College of Liberal Arts Convocation 2010

National Trust for Historic Preservation

Phi Beta Delta Honor Society

Phi Theda Kappa International Honor Society

The Phi Beta Kappa Society

Golden Key International Honour Society 

American Association of University Professors 

National Writers Union 

Past Memberships

American Anthropology Association (including section and interest memberships in  Association for Indigenous Anthropologists; Anthropology of Work; Anthropology of Public Policy; Music and Sound), Caddo Conference Organization,  George Wright Society North Louisiana Historical Association, Labor and Working Class History Association

Courses Taught and Students Supervised

Indigenous Perspectives on US History

Indigenous People and Places of North America 

Black Natives: Anti-Blackness, Indigeneity, and Decolonization

Indigeous Organzing and the Struggle for Liberation, 1945-Present

Not Recognized: Struggle for Indigenous Rights, Land, and Acknowledgement

Natives as Proletarians: First Nations Peoples as Workers under Capitalism 

Indigenous History until 1872

Indingeous History 1872-Present 

Human Geography

Louisiana History 

U.S. History to 1877

U.S. History 1877-Present 

Supervisior for Independent Study and Directed Readings Couses 

     Afro-Indingeous Futurisms

     Indigneous Hip Hop

     Re-establishing Native Plant Biodiversity

     Indgenous Tattooing 

     Special Projects 

 

Committee Member or Chair, Division Projets, Hampshire College 

Isabella Uttley-Rosado (Div III), Learning About the Land We are On, Hampshire College (18F), 2022

Blythe Wilde Div III), Stories through the stars: What Birds Teach Us, Hamprhire College (18F), 2022

Fianna Wilde (Div III), Politics of Indigenous and Settler Land Relations, Storytelling, and Bird Migration, Hampshire College (18F), 2022

Kameron Morgan (Div II) “Why How History Is Taught Matters” (18F), 2021 

Kameron Morgan (Div III) “The Dangers of Video Games as a [Military] Recruitment Tool” (18F), 2023

Jackie Mattellian (Div II) “Critical Climatology: Focus on Indigenous Climate Solutions” (21S), 2022

Lars Wahlsten (Div II) “I am going home to the highway in my head – Magic, Blood, Ecosomatics, Rupture, Deviance, Violence” (20F), 2022

Lars Wahlsten (Div III) “It’s all the time to come to earth and earth: chronospatial mediumship and mourning”,

Charles Dent (Div II)  “Critical Political Theory” (21F), 2022

Charles Dent (Div II)  “The Elephant in the Room: The Gateway Arch and Public Memory” (21F), 2023- anticipated 

Olivia Booth (Div II) “The Effects of Settler Colonialism on Environmental Degradation and Where We Go From Here” (20F), 2023- anticipated 

Yarrow Skoblow (Div II), “Restorative Practice: Exploration and Embodiment” (20F), 2023- anticipated 

Seminar Attendance, Trainings, Workshops, and Continuing Education 

Imagining Freedom with Elizabeth Alendander, Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Mitchell S. Jackson and Jesse Krimes, Mellon Foundation Febrary 23, 2023

US Policy in the Global South with Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Vincent Bevins, and Amy Goodman (moderator), UMass Amherst (via Zoom), September 19, 2022 

50th Anniversary of Native Studies and launch of Department of Indigneous Studies, The University at Buffalo September 17, 2022

National Traditional Ecological Knowledge Summit, (via Zoom) May 2022

Voices of Social Change course by Laureate Education (via Coursera) April 2022

62nd Caddo Conference, Natchitoches LA, April 2022

Inidgenous/American Past and Futures: OAH Conference on American History, Boston, March 2022 

Porous Borders: Multiracial Migrations and the Law in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, Kay Johnson Lecture in Asian and Asian American Studies Presented by Julian Lim, Hamshire College March 30, 2022

Hampshire College Sassafras, Stickball and Stories: Indigenous Cultures of the Gulf South. Fourth Tulane Indigenous Studies Symposium, March 19-20, 2022

Unfair Labor? American Indians and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago with David Beck, Union Pacific Railroad Museum, March 15, 2022

Panel discussion, The Keepers of Corn/ Los Guardianes del Maiz, Denver Museum of Nature and Science,  January 12, 2022

American Historical Association, 135th Annual Meeting, New Orleans LA January 6-9, 2022

“Religiously Mixed” with Rabbi Marjorie Berman and Riyana Zafira Razalee. The Mixed Space, December 14, 2021

 “The Climate Crisis: A Reading and Discussion.” The Massachusetts Review, December 10, 2021

Prospects for Peace and Justice in Israel and Palestine with Sally Abed, Noam Chomsky, Alon-lee Green, Jim McGovern and James Zogby moderated by Omar Dahi. Boston Review and Standing Together (virtual event) December 9, 2021

A panel discussion on Shay Hazkani’s “Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War” with Shay Hazkani, Nadia Abu El-Haj, Areej Sabbagh-Khoury, and Laila Parsons, IHGMS The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Decmeber 9, 2021

A panel discussion on Thomas Kohut’s “Empathy and the Historical Understanding of the Human Past,” IHGMS The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, November 29, 2021

Alice Nash with Elizabeth Pangburn, “Unpacking Le Gip,” November 27, 2021

Society for the History of Discoveries 2021 Virtual Conference, Changing Tides: Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans on the Gulf Coast, November 18-20, 2021 

Virtual artist talk, Rollin and Mary Ella King Native artist fellow, Brandon Adriano Ortiz-Concha, School for advanced Research, November 18, 2021

Indigenous Lifeways, the mixed space (via Zoom) November 16, 2021

White House Tribal Nations Summit, November 15-16, 2021

Increasing Higher Education Access for Native Students, Dr. Elena Hood, CSU East Bay, November 15, 2021

Fourteeenth Biennial Native American Symposium, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant OK, November 12, 2021

Native American Perspectives on Statues and Monuments, Northeastern State University Tahlequah OK, Novemer 10, 2021

Taking Children, Taking the Land: Nick Estes with Rebecca Nagle. Lannan Readings and Conversations, November 10, 2021

2021 Indigenous Mapping Workshop: Mapping Turtle Island, Indigenous Mapping Collective, November 1-5, 2021

AHA Texas Conference on Introductory History Courses, Fall 2021

Margaret Bruchac, “Restorative Indigenous Research in the Kwinitekw (Connecticut) River Valley,” Hampshire College November 1, 2021

Celebrate Design Students and Community Parners, “Acknowldge and Listen”deCordova Musuem, October 28, 2021

Hoodwinked in the Hothouse Part II: Frontline Voices of Indigenous Resistance beyond Climate False Solutions. The New School, New York City (online) October 27, 2021

The Negev Bedouin: Emptied Lands and Displaced People,  Greadue Center at CUNY, October 27, 2021

Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story, WAM Theater, October 24, 2021

Third Barry Lawrence Rudderman Confernce on Cartography: Indigenous Mapping.  David Rumsey Map Center at Stanford Libraries, Oct 20-22, 2021.

Faculty Respond to Daniel Immerwahr’s How to Hide an Empire; Omar Dahi, “Obama as a ‘Bad Samaritan’: How to hide US imperialism in Syria,” April Merleaux, “Imperialism is actually really boring” Lili Kim;”Confronting Two Empires: A Korean American History.”Engage Conference. Hampshire College, October 20, 2021
 
Yvonne Tiger, “Angel de Cora (Smith 1896): Winnebago Artist and Innovator,” Bombyx Cultural Center, Northampton, MA, October 19, 2021
 
Hoodwinked in the Hothouse: Examining False Corporate Schemes advanced through the Paris Agreement. The New School, New York City (online) October 8, 2021
 
Unlocking the Archives of the Carceral War with Orisanmi Burton, Hampshire College, October 7,2021
 
Indigenous Peoples’ Day Symposium, Texas Christian University, October 4-5, 2021 
 
“Addressing Barriers to Native American Voting Rights: A Tribal-Federal Roundtable Discussion” with Sen. Luján (NM), Sen. Tester (MT), Rep. Davids (KS), Chairman Timothy Nuvangyaoma (Hopi Tribe), Chairwoman Shelly Fyant (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes), and Natasha Singh (Tanana Chiefs Conference). National Congress of American Indians and Native American Rights Fund, October 5, 2021
 
 
American Indian Heritage Day in Texas 2021, “Sove(reign)ty,” Lone Star Park, Mesquite Texas (via internet) September 25, 2021 
 
Fortieth Anniversary of Federal Acknowledgement of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe, September 22, 2021 
 
The Living Presence of our History Part V: A Conversation with Indigenous Artists Making Art for Social Change including Nayana LaFond, Sarah Whalen Lunn and Jessica Thornton (Co-produced by the Ohketeau Cultural Center and Double Edge Theatre) Sunday September 19, 2021 
 
In-Kinship Fellowship Day-long gathering, Penobscot River Watershed, September 11, 2021 
 
“Liquid Landscapes and the Edges of America, From the Revolutionary Era to Today” with Michele Navakas, Leventhal Map and Education Center, August 4, 2021 
 
Printing demonstration and lecture on printing in Colonial America and the Early United States with Gove Allen (BYU), American Antiquarian Society, August 3, 2021
 
P.L.A.C.E. session “Pueblo Food Experience Project” with Roxanne Swentzell,  The Rezilience Organization, August 1, 2021
 
Gathering at the Crossroads: Building Native American and Indigenous Studies First Annual Retreat, July 29, 2021
 
Cities’ Covid Mitigation and Mapping (C2M2) Symposium. US Department of State, American Association of Geographers and Center for Geographic Analysis. Harvard University, June 22-25, 2021
 
National Congress of American Indians Mid Year Conference and 16th Annual Tribal Leader/Scholar Forum. June 20-24, 2021. 
 
“Emotional Zapotec Epistemologies: The Relevance of Physical Space, Cosmic time, and Interconnectivity when Discussing Zapotec Emotional Injuries” with Candy Martinez, American Philosophical Society, June 8, 2021
 
Great Lakes Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) – Webinar Series, June 2-30, 2021
 
Deepfakes: commodification, consequences and countermeasures with Giorgio Patrini, School for Advanced Research, April 8, 2021
 
Disrupting Settler Colonialism: LandBack and other Calls to Action! with Kisha James,  Chas Jewett, MJ Red Shirt and Krystal Two Bulls. The University of Massachusetts at Amerst. April 7, 2021
 
Native Americans and the National Consciousness: Virtual Reading and Conversation with Joy Harjo, Harvard University, April 5, 2021
 
Cultural Misappropriation,  Roger Williams University School of Law, March 31, 2021
 
Elizabeth Ellis (New York University), ” Remembering, Forgetting, and Mythologizing the Petites Nations” Indigenous Studies Seminar, American Philosophical Society, March 19, 2021
 
Rights of Nature & LandBack: Indigenous-led movements for the Protection of Mother Earth, March 18, 2021
 
Tribal Food Sovereignty Case Study- NCAI Webinar, March 18, 2021
 
New Orleans Center for the Gulf South’s Third Annual Indigenous Symposium, Tulane University, March 12, 2021 
 
Indigenous Leadership Summit, Northeastern State University, Feb. 2021
 
2021 Executive Council Winter Session, National Congress of American Indians, Feb. 2021
 
“The Indian in the Freezer,”Dr.  Jennifer Hamilton, Amherst College. Feb. 17, 2021
 
“Lenape:  Imagining the Indigenous States of America” with Philip Deloria, School for Advanced Research, Feb. 17, 2021
 
Race & Nation in Puerto Rican Folklore, Dr. Rafael Ocasio, American Philosophical Society, Feb 17, 2021

American Indian and Indigenous Community Center at Virginia Tech- Virtual Lunch Series, 2021

Indigenous Canada, University of Alberta with Dr. Traci Bear and Dr. Paul Gareau (Coursera) 2021 

“An Immersive Journey to the Andean Highlands of Peru,” School for Advanced Research, December 2, 2020

Robert Miller on “The Indian Law Bombshell: McGirt v. Oklahoma,” American Philosophical Society, Nov. 19, 2020

Covid-19 Contact Tracing Course- Johns Hopkins University (Certificate via Coursera) September 5, 2020

“Why Study Labor History?” with Toni Gilpin, September 3, 2020

Feminisms & Indigenous Womxn: Two-Spirit, Gender and SexualityIndigenous Environmental Network, September 2, 2020

Reclaiming the Ancestors: Indigenous and Black Perspectives on Repatriation, Human Rights, and Justice Confirmation, September 2, 2020

Third Annual OER Conference #LCTCS2020OER Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS), South Louisiana Community College, February 7, 2020 

Tourism and Travel Management Course- University of Queensland Australia (via EdX) May 6, 2019