Program: Joint Doctoral Program in American History and Public History

     Specialties: American Indian History, Early U.S. History, Museum Studies, Oral History, and Historic Preservation

Dissertation: A Fire that Cannot be Extinguished: Sovereignty and Identity in the Pokagon Potawatomi Community, 1632 to 2010

Faculty Advisor: Theodore Karamanski, Ph.D.

Email: lisa.cushing.davis@gmail.com

“The Disciplines of a Conscious Leader,” Kellogg Leadership Series, Kellogg School of Management, Center for Nonprofit Management, Northwestern University, November 19, 2009.

“Making an Impact with Volunteers,” Kellogg Leadership Series, Kellogg School of Management, Center for Nonprofit Management, Northwestern University, January 20, 2010.

“The Influential Leader,” Kellogg Leadership Series, Kellogg School of Management, Center for Nonprofit Management, Northwestern University, April 28, 2010.

American Indian sovereignty and identity, the rights of political and economic self-determination and self-definition, have undergone drastic change since the time of First Contact. Under the policies of various European nations, and finally the United States, indigenous residents of North America have fought to maintain political independence, as well as cultural and social integrity, while adapting to changing conditions over which they found themselves, very often, to have little direct control. Such is the history of the Potawatomi people. My dissertation examines the historic responses to these continuing challenges of one band of Potawatomi, the Pokagon of southwestern Michigan, arguing that far from being vanished generic Indians, the Pokagon Potawatomi have continuously strived to maintain and enhance a cohesive tribal identity. In addition, I am interested in issues of the gendered adoption of Christianity by Native Americans, the portrayal of Native Americans in both Native and non-Native texts, museum representations of Native peoples, preservation of Native cultural resources, and using oral history as a tool in Native language preservation and restoration.

• Loyola University Chicago Oral History Fellowship, 2011-2013

• Loyola University Chicago Advanced Dissertation Fellowship, 2009

• Loyola University Chicago Graduate Fellowship, 2006–2009

• Colonial Dames of America, Illinois Chapter, American History Scholarship, 2008

• University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire Graduate Assistantship, 2004–2006

• Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Scholar, 2004

• Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society Scholar, 2001

• Barron Historical Society Scholarship, 2001

• University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire Dean John Meggers Scholarship, 2001

Articles

“Hegemony and Resistance at the World’s Columbian Exposition: Chief Simon Pokagon and The Red Man’s Rebuke,” currently under review at the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society

Museum Exhibitions

Raising the Totem: Exploring Northwest Coast Indigenous Cultures. Lisa Cushing Davis and Laura McDowell, curators. At the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Evanston, Illinois, January 23 – June 13, 2010

Seven Artists, Seven Teachings. Lisa Cushing Davis, curator. At the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Evanston, Illinois, September 20 – December 30, 2009.

Great Lakes American Indian Material Culture: Continuity and Change in the Old Northwest. Lisa Cushing Davis, curator. At the Niles Public Library, Niles, Illinois, November 1 – December 15, 2009.