DIRECTED RESEARCH AND ONGOING PROJECTS

 

*ETHNIC HISTORY

* Organized and directed research projects with community partner St. Alphonsus Art & Cultural Center and Tulane University students, 2011 to the present-

          Topics included

           Irish Channel Neighborhood Project, 1840-present

           1880, 1910, 1920, and 1930 Census

           Mapping of the Irish Channel

           St. Alphonsus Orphanage Asylums

           St. Alphonsus Parochial Schools

           Financial Records of the Redemptorists, 1860-1890

           Oral Histories of Parishioners of St. Alphonsus

          Transcription and Analysis of the Redemptorists’ Annals and select correspondence,1860-1890

 

* Organized and directed research projects with community partner Save our Cemeteries, and Tulane University students, 2009 to the present- 

Projects revolve around St. Patrick’s Cemetery Number One & Two, and include such undertakings as creating an architectural inventory of gravestones, building a database of people interned at these two cemeteries, and researching in the Archdiocese Archives to produce a tour guide manual for these two cemeteries. 

 

*NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY 

*Tribal Historian, Curriculum Advisor, Educator  working with the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT)

*Historian Consultant to PACIT concerning the historic criteria for federal tribal acknowledgement, 2005-Present

*Organized, and directed research projects involving members of Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT) and Tulane University students- 2008 to Present

          Topics included

          Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Ethnobotany- Native knowledge and medicinal use of plants among Tribal members;                               economics, sustenance, and changing botanical landscape on Tribal land; plants grown for consumption and distribution of food resources;

           conducting oral histories among the Elders of the Tribe; creation of lesson plans from this material based upon the principles of TEK for the

           children of the Tribe 

          Foodways- Collection of recipes from PACIT, examination of production and consumption of food, identity and social relationships, household

          economy and subsistence, pre and post oil spill impact on community

          2010 Oil Spill- Impact on ecology, community, and cultural heritage

          Kinship and Community Projects--Gender roles, Mapping members of PACIT, examining and documenting the relationship over geography

         (space) and time among the members

          Recent History of PACIT (1990s to the present)

          Role of the Land in shaping the community 

          Role of education and discrimination (20th-century) and PACIT

          Collection of Oral Histories from Elders of the Tribe

          Indigenous Curriculum Project- creation of lesson plans incorporating an Indigenous perspective and historical context for 3rd and 8th grade.

          StoryMap Project

          Day in the life of  . . . 21st Century Native American Indian Project

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