STUDIES IN ACTION
Projects
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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AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
*The Alphonse A. & Geraldine F. Arnold Lecture- 2106 Speaker, Gonzaga University, Spokane WA
*Administration for Native Americans, Historical Research Grant: Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe Federal Recognition Project, 2014-2017
*New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, Monroe Fellowship, 2014
*Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT), Tulane University, Classroom Enhancement Grant, High Water-High Stakes Coastal Erosion and Native American Communities in Southern Louisiana, September 2106; Southern Foodways, January 2015; Louisiana History, January 2014; Ethnic New Orleans, September 2013 and Southern Food, Culture and History, January 2013
*New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, Tulane University, Grant, Freedom Riders 50 years later,November 2012
*New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, Sponsorship Grant, ACIS, March 2012.
*Center for Public Service, Tulane University. Community Based Research Grant,
Hidden Histories of New Orleans, 2011-2012
*Center for Public Service, Tulane University. Community Based Research Grant,
Living History: Historical Examination of Louisiana Native American Communities, 2009-2010
*Who’s Who Among Teachers in American Universities and Colleges, 2005-06
*John T. Monroe Fellowship, Tulane University, 2002-2003
*American History Scholarship Award, Colonial Dames of Louisiana, 2002