Ashley E. Smith
Visiting Assistant Professor
About
B.A. Wheaton College, MA; French Studies and Anthropology
M.A., Ph.D. Cornell University; Anthropology and American Indian and Indigenous Studies
Public Scholarship:
2022 “Stories of Nanrantsouak/Norridgewock Village: Understanding the Legacies of our Shared Histories of Violence” in Wabanaki Voices Speaker Series. Skowhegan History House, Maine.
2021 “Indigenous Homelands, Maps, Erasures” in Hidden Drives: The Scene and Unseen of Home. Center for Humanistic Inquiry and the Mead Art Museum, Amherst College.
2020 “‘The First Idea is That of the River’: Indigenous Interventions in Historical Inquiry, OR, how do we ‘River It?'” in All Water Has Memory, Rivers and American History. A Jefferson Scholars Foundation Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue.
Expertise
Current Courses
Fall Semester 2026
Indigenous Lands and Sovereignties
This course introduces students to the critical study of settler colonialism in the United States and Canada by focusing on the historic and continuing expansion of colonial and federal power into Indigenous territories. We begin in the eighteenth century in the Northeastern part of the continent, l…
Indigenous Peoples and Places
This introductory course examines the histories, cultures, and contemporary lives of Indigenous peoples in North America. Students will explore key topics such as Indian-settler relations, tribal sovereignty, Indigenous activism, and the cultural significance of place and peoplehood. Special attenti…