Joshua Smith
Anthropologist
Curriculum VItae
EDUCATION
PhD, Anthropology, University of Western Ontario 2015
BA, Anthropology, University of Victoria 2010
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Lecturer 2019 - Present
Department of World Languages & Cultures
Iowa State University
Associate Editor 2012 - Present
The Franz Boas Paper: Documentary Edition
The University of Western Ontario
Adjunct Research Assistant Professor 2017 - Present
Department of Anthropology
The University of Western Ontario
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow 2015-2017
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada SSHRC
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
PUBLICATIONS
Books
In Preparation
co-Editor Just Relations: Anthropology and Law in Canada (Working Title). Joshua Smith, Robert Wishart, eds., University of Alberta Press.
Sovereign Anthropologies: The Americanist Tradition, Indian Law and U.S. Indian Policy in the
Interwar Period (1919-1939). Franz Boas Papers VII. Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press.
2015
(co-Editor) Franz Boas as Public Intellectual: Ethnography, Theory, Activism. Franz Boas
Papers, Volume I. Regna Darnell, Michelle A. Hamilton, Robert L. A. Hancock and Joshua
Smith, eds., Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Articles
In Preparation
‘A Dangerous Spot’: Nancy Lurie and the Violent Facts of Ethnohistory. Histories ofAnthropology Annual. University of Nebraska Press (Future Volume).
In Press
Reckoning with Rietz: A Sketch of an Action Anthropologist. Histories of Anthropology Annual. University of Nebraska Press (Volume 14).
2018
Tax, Sol. International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
2015
Cultural Persistence in the Age of ‘Hopelessness’: Phinney, Boas and U.S. Indian Policy. In Franz Boas as Public Intellectual: Ethnography, Theory, Activism. Darnell et al. eds. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Standing with Sol: The Spirit and Intent of Action Anthropology. Anthropologica. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
2014
The Franz Boas Papers: Documentary Edition. (Co-Authored with Regna Darnell, Robert L.A. Hancock and Sarah Moritz). Journal of Northwest Anthropology 48(1): 90-106.
2012
Beyond Collaboration: Action Anthropology as Decolonization. In Action Anthropology and Sol Tax: The Final Word? Journal of Northwest Anthropology, Memoir 8:79-95.
2010
The Political Thought of Sol Tax: The Principles of Non-Assimilation and Self Government in Action Anthropology. Histories of Anthropology Annual 6, 129-170.
Reviews
2014
Telling it to the Judge (Arthur J. Ray, McGill-Queens University Press). Histories of Anthropology Annual 8.
2013
The French Colonial Mind (Volumes I & II). (Martin Thomas , ed., University of Nebraska Press). Histories of Anthropology Annual 8.
2012
Anthropologists and the Rediscovery of America, 1886-1965 (John S. Gilkeson, Cambridge University Press). Histories of Anthropology Annual 7.
Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture (Lee D. Baker, Duke University Press,). Histories of Anthropology Annual 7.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Forthcoming
Struggle, Collaboration and Doing Justice: Best Practices in Teaching Ethnographic Methods. Roundtable. American Anthropological Association. Vancouver, BC.
2019
Plains Anthropology in the 21st Century: Human Agency and Why It Matters. Roundtable. Plains Anthropology Society. Bloomington, IN.
2018 Peoplehood and Polities: Indigenous Expressions of Sovereignty. Land, Languages, Locatives. London, ON.
2017
Cultural Analytics: Relationality and the History of Anthropology. American Anthropological Association. Washington D.C.
‘A Dangerous Spot’: Nancy Lurie and the Violent Facts of Ethnohistory. American Society for Ethnohistory. Winnipeg.
2016
Voicing the Ancestors: Readings in memory of George Stocking (Roundtable). American Anthropological Association, Minneapolis.
Speaking of Ella: Locating Her Anthropology and Politics for Contemporary Contexts. American Society for Ethnohistory, Nashville.
“Civilized Accumulation”: Coloniality and Consent in British Columbia. American Society for Ethnohistory, Nashville.
How to Win Friends and Influence People at Your Home Institution (Roundtable). The Association for Documentary Editing, New Orleans.
Indigenous and Anthropological Solidarities of Yesteryear: the Mutuality of Phinney, Deloria and Boas. Canadian Anthropology Society. Halifax.
2015
Sovereign Anthropologies: The Americanist Tradition, Ethnography and Indian Law in the Interwar Period. Society for Social Studies of Science. Denver.
Decolonizing Anthropologies in Canadian Anthropology: Reflections on Relations, Resistances and Resurgences for Contemporary Canadian Anthropologies. Canadian Anthropology Society. Quebec City.
Public Anthropology in Canada (Roundtable). Canadian Anthropology Society. Canadian Anthropology Society, Quebec City.
2014
Retelling the Story of Canada: How Anthropology Is Changing Perspectives 6 on Treaties. American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C.
A Living Journal: Current Anthropology as Action Anthropology. History of Science Society, Chicago.
Ethnohistory as if Colonialism Matters: Toward an Ethnohistory of the Present. American Society for Ethnohistory, Indianapolis.
2013
Advocacy Need Not Be Any More Explicit Than Imperialism Is: Reconsidering the Political Philosophy of Sol Tax For Future Publics and Current Engagements. American Anthropological Association, Chicago.
“Dear Bob”: The Mutual Politics of Robert K. Thomas and Sol Tax in Action Anthropology. Native American and Indigenous Studies, Saskatoon.
Actions and Collaborations: Distinguishing Two Political Paradigms in the Historiography of Applied Anthropology in Canada. Canadian Anthropological Society, Victoria.
2012
From Russia with Love: Mutual Politics in the Correspondences of Archie Phinney and Franz Boas. American Society for Ethnohistory. Springfield.
Challenging U.S. Indian Policy: The Anti-Colonial Politics of Archie Phinney and Franz Boas. American Anthropological Association, San Francisco.
Leave No Page Unturned: Ethnography, History and the (un)Expected Archive. Canadian Anthropological Society. Edmonton.
2011
Action Anthropology and the 'Settler Question' in Canada. American Anthropological Association, Montreal.
'Collaboration' as Coloniality: Delisting the St. Clair River as an area of Concern. 43Rd Algonquian Conference, Ann Arbor.
‘Last On the Warpath': Action Anthropology & the Challenges of Decolonization in Canada. Annual Meetings, Canadian Anthropology Society, Fredericton.
Culture-Centric Warfare: The Weaponization of Anthropology in the Global War on Terror. Enter the Fray: Theory & Criticism in the Network Centric World. University of Western Ontario, London, ON.
Action Anthropology and the ‘Settler Question’ in Canada. Society for Applied Anthropology, Seattle.
Contested Memories: Universal Histories as Colonial Ideologies on Cheju 7 Island. 11th East Asian Studies Graduate Conference, University of Toronto.
2010
Activist Anthropology and Boasian Legacies. Conference: Franz Boas: Ethnographer, Theorist, Activist, and Public Intellectual, London, ON.
CONFERENCE & PANEL ORGANIZATION
Forthcoming
Changing Political Climates: The Relational dynamics of Obligation in Urgent Anthropological Research. American Anthropological Association. Vancouver, BC.
Co-Organizer with David Anderson Warm Words in a Cold Climate: Curiosity and Cooperation in Cold-War Anthropology. American Anthropological Association. Vancouver, BC.
2019
Co-Organizer with Regna Darnell. Land, Languages, Locatives II. Vancouver, BC.
2018
Co-Organizer with Regna Darnell. Land, Languages, Locatives I. London, ON.
Resilient Sovereignties: Land, Language and Resistance in Indigenous-Settler Contexts. American Anthropological Association, San Jose.
2017
What Do Indigenous Artefacts Want? Joint Meeting of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences and Canadian Anthropology Society.
2016
George Stocking Symposium: Papers in Honour of Regna Darnell. Organized with Rob Wishart. American Anthropological Association, Minneapolis.
The Regna Rhizome: A Roundtable Four Decades in the Making. Organized with Rob Wishart. American Anthropological Association, Minneapolis.
The Relational Document: Perspectives on the Intersections of Indigenous Research and Documentary Editing. The Association for Documentary Editing, New Orleans.
2015
A Familiar Stranger: Franz Boas in Contexts. Executive Session. Organized with Ian Puppe. American Anthropological Association. Denver.
Digital Communities: Cultures, Collections and Collaborations. Organized with Beth Compton. American Anthropological Association. Denver.
Living Honourably with Others and the Land: Geography, Anthropology and Indigenous Settler Political-Legal Relations. Organized with Brian Noble. American Anthropological Association. Denver.
2014
The Ongoing Legacy of Franz Boas. Invited Session, Association of Senior Anthropologists, American Anthropological Association, Washington D.C.
Franz Boas' Legacy in the Digital Age: Rethinking Old Partnerships and New Ways to Use Traditional Knowledge. (Part I and II). International Conference of Indigenous Archives, Libraries, and Museums, Palm Springs.
2013
Legacies of Action Anthropology: Political Relations and Personal Reflections. American Anthropological Association, Chicago.
2012
Native North American Indian Track: Language, Culture & Historic Preservation. American Society for Ethnohistory, Springfield.
Ancestor Worship or Patricide? Anthropological Genealogies. Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco.
2011
The 'Settler Question' in Canada: Anthropological History and the Challenge of Living Together On Indigenous Lands. American Anthropological Association, Montreal.
2010
Franz Boas: Ethnographer, Theorist, Activist, Public Intellectual. Co-Organizer with Regna Darnell. University of Western Ontario, London, ON.
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
2018
Franz Boas Died for Your Sins: An Anthropologist Manifesto. Inaugural Regna Darnell Distinguished Lecture in Theory, Ethnography and Activism in Anthropology. University of Western Ontario.
2016
Advocacy and Local Audience: Positionality and Relationality for Documentary Editing. Invited Plenary: ADE Seminar on Critical Issues-Advocacy. The Association for Documentary Editing. New Orleans.
Action Anthropology in a New Key: Reflection and Resurgence in Canadian Anthropology. Invited Plenary: Acting On and Through Indigenous-Settler Solidarities. Canadian Anthropology Society. Halifax.
‘Last On the Warpath’: The Spirit and Intent of Action Anthropology. Dartmouth College. Department of Anthropology and Native American Studies. New Hampshire.
2015
Sovereign Anthropologies: The Americanist Tradition, Ethnography and Indian Law in the Interwar Period. Executive Session, A Familiar Stranger: Franz Boas in Contexts. American Anthropological Association, Denver.
2014
Future of Enthnohistory (Roundtable). Special Program Committee SessionAmerican Society for Ethnohistory, Indianapolis.
Reflecting On Being Here To Stay: Treaties in the 21st Century (Roundtable). Canadian Anthropological Society, Toronto.
2013
This Water is Theirs’: Understanding Settler Obligations to Water Governance through Treaty. Editor's Session, sponsored by Duke University Press. American Society for Ethnohistory, New Orleans.
2011
The Politics of Sol Tax & Action Anthropology. Applied Anthropology Symposium: ‘Learning from Sol Tax in 2010’. Society for Applied Anthropology, Seattle.
WORKSHOPS
2016
Determining Access: Theory and Practice in Implementing Indigenous Governance Over Lands and Resources. Thompson Rivers University, Kelowna, BC.
2009
Crabgrass Collective: Doing Politics, Undoing Anthropology. Session organized by Brian Noble. Canadian Anthropology Society, Vancouver.
TEACHING
Iowa State University
ANTHR 201xw Introduction to Cultural Anthropology OnlineFall 2019
ANTHR 230 Globalization & the Human Condition Fall 2019 | Spring 2020
ANTHR 230xw Globalization & the Human Condition Online FALL 2019 | Spring 2020
ANTHR 340 Magic Witchcraft & Religion Spring 2020
ANTHR 540 Magic Witchcraft & Religion Spring 2020
Invited Guest Teaching
Dartmouth College Departments of Anthropology and Native American Studies
NAS 10 & ANTH 4 Peoples and Cultures of Native North America 4.29.2016
University of New Brunswick Department of Anthropology
ANTH 4114 Culture and Environment 3.29.2016
University of Western Ontario Department of Anthropology
ANTH 9900A Sp. Topics: Anthropology of Collaboration 10.3.2013Dalhousie University Department of Sociology and Anthropology
SOSA 3183 SOSA in Action 12.3.2013
SOSA 3183 SOSA in Action 11. 21.2010
SOSA 4005/5005 Social Justice and Inequality 09.30.2010
Beloit College Department of Anthropology
Department Research Seminar
Sol Tax’s Theory of Cultural Persistence: the Myth of Cultural Assimilation and the Rise of Action Anthropology 10.6.2010
GRANTS
Co-Applicant | Co-Investigator 2018 with Regna Darnell & Clint Westman
SSHRC Connection Grant: Land, Language Locatives. Co-Investigator | $25,000 Awarded CAN
Co-Investigor | Co-writer 2012-2019 with Regna Darnell (Principal Investigator)
SSHRC Partnership Grant: The Franz Boas Papers. Co-Investigator | $2, 500,000 CAN
Award Holder 2018 Phillips Fund for Ethnohistorical Research: American Philosophical Society | $3,500 US
Award Holder2015-2017
SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship Post-doctoral Fellowship | $82,000 CAN
Award Holder 2012
Robert L. Platzman Fellowship: Regenstein Library, University of Chicago | $3000 US
Award Holder 2011-2012
SSHRC Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Research Scholarship | $17,000 CAN
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Research Associate 2015-2017
Etnos Project
University of Aberdeen
Research Associate 2015-2017
Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH)
Simon Fraser University
Graduate Research Associate 2011-2015
Articulating Standards -Technoscience and Regulation Unit (TRU)
Dalhousie University
Research Consultant 2012-2013
Cultural Heritage Centre, Bkejwanong (Walpole Island First Nation
Archival Research
American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia Ongoing
- Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University 2017-18
- National Archives, Seattle 2016
- Newberry Library, Chicago 2015
- The Joseph Regenstein Library, University of Chicago 2011 | 2015
INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE
Teaching Resources Reviews Editor -Teaching and Learning Anthropology 2018-Ongoing
Editorial Board -Histories of Anthropology Annual 2015-Ongoing
Chair - History of Anthropology Interest Group 2017-2019
Chair -CASCA Book Award Committee 2016-2018
Board Member - General Anthropology Division of the AAA 2017-2019
- Book Reviews Editor - Histories of Anthropology Annual 2010-2013
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- American Anthropological Association
- History of Anthropology Interest Group
General Anthropology Division
Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges
Teaching Anthropology Interest Group
American Society for Ethnohistory
The Association for Documentary Editing
- Canadian Anthropological Society
REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Download
Research
My primary research is concerned with Indigenous-Settler relations with a special focus on the histories of anthropology or, more aptly, the anthropology of anthropology. For example, focus on action anthropology looks at the political theory of action anthropologists, especially Sol Tax, Nancy Lurie, Robert K. Thomas and Robert Rietz (to name a few). In doing so, I take an ethnohistorical approach to understanding the political context of their projects in approaches to decolonizing anthropology in their own time and consider how their knowledge might be useful in relation to Indigenous-Settler relations today including education, activism, policy, governance, and law. Related themeatic subjects include treaty analysis, storied praxis, resource extraction/resistance vis-à-vis Indigenous Rights and Settler Obligation.
Land, Languages, Locatives
I play a lead role in the collaborative interdisciplinary project, Land, Language, Locatives. Our project explores the relationships between community, place and language in social, cultural and political contexts from multiple perspectives.
The Franz Boas Papers
As Associate Editor of the Franz Boas Papers, I undertake research on my own edited volumes of the letters from the Franz Boas Papers held in the collections of the American Philosophical Society. The series is published by the University of Nebraska Press. I also work with editorial teams on the production of their volumes as well as planning, coordinating together with the General Editor meetings, symposium and community engagements related to the FBP project as a whole. The current volumes I am working on include one on Indigenous politics and activism in the interwar period and another on Boas and Anthropology's intersection with African American Studies.
Sovereign Anthropologies
Sovereign Anthropologies (SA) explores the political theory and activisms of Indigenous anthropologists such as Archie Phinney and Ella Deloria. SA draws out new perspectives on their theories and methods as they relate to contemporary challenges of revitalizing Indigenous Law and re-asserting Indigenous Sovereignties through kinship, activist, policy, governance and storied praxis.
Just Relations: Anthropology & Law in Canada
Just Relations is a book project I am co-editing with Rob Wishart (University of Aberdeen) inspired by the contributions/works of Michael Asch to understanding Indigenous/Settler relations in Canada both through and beyond Anthropology and Law.
Coming soon....
Contact
Joshua J. Smith