Timothy Houge is a current doctoral student in the Department of History who was recently awarded both the Cyril E. Smith Trust Fellowship and Casper Dissertation Fellowship. Both fellowships support academic work in the humanities.
Hogue’s research focuses on the relationship between local, state and the federal government and Native Peoples in Wisconsin, Alaska and Arizona and how education policy became a site of activism for Native Americans pursuing self-determination and Indigenous-sovereign education. Using education policy as a lens, the work highlights two important demographics in particular who have historically been overlooked in scholarship: the Native peoples at a local, grassroots level in Alaska, Wisconsin and Arizona, and the Native Americans who were employed within government institutions attempting to reconceptualize the assimilationist and paternalistic approach in federal Indian policy towards one that focused on partnerships and self-determination.
The fellowship awards have helped fund Hogue’s travels to Seattle, Washington, and Juneau, Alaska, to conduct research on federal education policy for Native peoples from 1950 to 1975.
Hogue presented his research on Alaska Natives and education policy in November 2023 at the American Society for Ethnohistory’s annual conference at Florida State University. He also gave two lectures in at the Clement Manor Center for Enrichment, the first lecture on 20th Century Alaska history, and the second on the federal Indian policy of the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.
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