Education

• 2014 Ph.D. American History and Comparative Global Indigenous Studies, Specializations in Linguistics, Anthropology and 20th Century U.S., Native America.  Arizona State University.
• 2012 M.A. in American History, Arizona State University.
• 2008 M.A. in African American and Native American History, Central Michigan University.
• 2006 B.S. in Anthropology and History, Central Michigan University.

Profile

Having grown up in Michigan, Chelsea Mead is excited to be returning to the Midwest and joining the Minnesota State Mankato community. She received a M.A. in History (2008) and a BS with honors in Anthropology, History and American Indian Studies from Central Michigan University (2003). During her time in Michigan, she began learning and studying Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language). She continued working with the language during her doctoral work at Arizona State University. While at ASU, Professor Mead worked on multiple grant funded projects with the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona and helped found the American Indian Graduate Student Organization on ASU’s campus. She continued her training in Anthropology and History by working with scholars in American Indian Education, Applied Linguistics, and Native American History.

In 2012, Professor Mead received the Pre-Doctorate Fellowship in American Indian Studies at Michigan State University. While at MSU, she taught a course on American Indian Culture for the Anthropology Department and wrote her dissertation, which examines the intersection between higher educational institutions and indigenous language revitalization, specifically, Ojibwe language efforts. Relational understandings of these programs and their creation and evolution form the basis of her current research. She also participated in a weekly Anishinaabemowin language circle with community elders.

Areas of specialization include social/cultural anthropology, ethnography, applied anthropology, American history, Indigenous history, oral history and tradition, globally comparative Indigenous studies, Indigenous and community activism, applied linguistics, education policy and practice, museum studies and Indigenous language revitalization and survivance.

Courses Taught at MNSU

• ANTH 240 - Language and Culture
• ANTH 245 - The Social Life of Swearing
• ANTH 250W - Portraits of Culture
• ANTH 269 - Anthropology of Sex
• ANTH 340 - Language and Power
• ANTH 440/540 - Native American Cultures of North America
• ANTH 486/586 - Workshop:  Teaching Anthropology
• ANTH 494 - Linguistic Lab
• ANTH 498 - Intern: Teaching Anthropology
• AIS 101 - Introduction to American Indian Studies
• AIS 102 - American Indian Country to 1900
• AIS 210W - Oral Traditions
• AIS 211 - The Story of American Indian Country to 1900
• AIS 212 - The Story of American Indian Country 1900 to Present
• AIS 340 - Sacred Landscape
• AIS 455/555 - Museum Science and Representation
• AIS 460 - Behaving Like Relatives
• AIS 475 - Global Indigeneity