Instagram: @TSALAGI_PHD_ALMOST

Native American Preparatory School, (high school); Colorado College (B. A.); University of New Mexico (M.A. and Ph.D)

The Humanities help people think as human beings--not in terms of profits or numbers but in stories, art, history, communications, literature, philosophy, languages, and cultures. As a minority-majority institution, UNM is in a unique position to promote the Humanities in New Mexico (including the 23 tribal nations in the state). The Humanities are relevant and present on the UNM campus simply through the milieu of daily life in Albuquerque.

She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a doctoral candidate in the Department of History where she specializes in Indigenous history and methodologies, urban Native history, memory studies, oral history, and public history. She was the first Native person to serve as the Managing Editor of the New Mexico Historical Review during the journal’s 95-year publication history. Her dissertation explores the social history of Native residents of Washington, D.C., including Indigenous diplomats and their relatives, activists, federal employees, and local tribal nations. Rachael’s background in filmmaking will contribute to an interactive website that will share her research and primary sources with wider audiences. This public history-style digital space will include short, edited videos that feature individuals, organizations, and locations. Rachael’s decade of public history experience includes initial educational program development at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, in Washington D.C.