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Divisions, Departments, and Degree Programs .:

Additional Programs .:

Projects, Centers and Institutes.:

Contact: Dean Chris Comer
LA 136, Missoula, MT 59812
Telephone: 243-2632
Fax: 406-243-4076

David Beck - ( Native American Studies )


Faculty Image
Office Location: NAS 104
Office Telephone: (406) 243-6097
E-mail: dave.beck@mso.umt.edu

Current Position:

Professor and Chair

Description:

One of the focal points of my work is to identify and analyze American Indian agency in the course of tribal history. I am a historian with research interests in federal Indian policy, twentieth century American Indian history, tribal sovereignty, and urban Indian history. I have studied these fields in relation to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, the southwest Oregon coast, and the Chicago American Indian community. In my teaching I attempt to provide students with the analytical tools and knowledge base to promote tribal community development.

Education:

Ph.D., History, University of Illinois at Chicago
M.A., History, University of Illinois at Chicago
B.A., American Studies, Northwestern University

Professional Experience:

Professor, Department of Native American Studies, University of Montana, since 2006

Associate Professor, Department of Native American Studies, University of Montana, 2000-2006

Dean and Senior Resident Faculty, NAES College, Chicago, 1997-2000

Director, Tribal Research Center and Professor of History, NAES College, 1992-1997

Courses:

NAS 100 Introduction to Native American Studies
NAS 301/RELS301 American Indian Religion and Philosophy
NAS 324/ANTH 324/HIST 354 Indians of Montana Since the Reservation Era
NAS 400/PSC 475 Tribal Sovereignty
NAS 494 Capstone Reading Course
NAS 594 Graduate Seminars in history and community development

Selected Publications:

Seeking Recognition: The Termination and Restoration of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, 1855-1984. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.

The Struggle for Self-Determination: History of the Menominee Indians since 1854. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. Paperback edition, 2007. Winner, Wisconsin Historical Society Book Award.

Siege and Survival: History of the Menominee Indians, 1634-1856. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002. Winner, Wisconsin Historical Society Book Award of Merit.

The Chicago American Indian Community, 1893-1988, Annotated Bibliography and Guide to Sources in Chicago. Chicago: NAES College Press, 1988.

          

Publications:

"'Collecting among the Menomini': Cultural Assault in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin," American Indian Quarterly 34:2 (Spring 2010): 157-93. Please contact me if you do not have access to Project Muse and would like a copy of this article.

"'Standing out here in the surf:' The Termination and Restoration of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw of Western Oregon in Historical Perspective," Oregon Historical Quarterly 110:3 (2009): 6-37. Honorable Mention, 2010 Joel Palmer Award, Oregon Historical Society

Developing a Voice: The Evolution of Self-Determination in an Urban Indian Community,” Wicazo Sa Review 17:2 (2002): 117-41.

"The Myth of the Vanishing Race,” Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian website, Northwestern University Library & Library of Congress.

“Protecting the Menominee Forest: The Urban Setting as a Platform to Advocate for Justice,” in Susan Lobo and Kurt Peters, ed., American Indian Urban Experiences. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2001. Pp. 155-62.

From Colonization to Self-Determination: American Indian Higher Education Before 1974,” Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 27:2 (1999): 12-23. Originally pp. 16-24 in Joanna Brown, ed., Critical Issues in Indian Higher Education. Chicago: American Indian Press, 1995. ERIC number ED 388 478.

“The Chicago American Indian Community, An ‘Invisible’ Minority,” in Maxine S. Seller and Lois Weis, eds., Beyond Black and White: New Voices, New Faces in United States Schools. Albany: State University of New York Press: 1997. Pp. 45-60. Reprinted in Terry Straus and Grant P. Arndt, Native Chicago. Chicago: McNaughton & Gunn, 1998: 167-181; reprinted in Terry Straus, ed., Native Chicago, 2nd Edition, Chicago: Albatross Press, 2002: 293-307.

“Return to Namä'o Uskíwämît, The Importance of Sturgeon in Menominee Indian History,” Wisconsin Magazine of History 79:1 (Autumn, 1995): 32-48. Reprinted in Menominee Tribal News, April 12, 1996, pp. 16-19.

Affiliations:

Associated Faculty, Department of History, University of Montana

Consultant, Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Historic Preservation Department, Keshena, Wisconsin

Advisor, Saokio Heritage, East Glacier, Montana

Project Director, Natives of Montana Archives Project (NOMAP), Smithsonian Institution and University of Montana Mansfield Library

Advisor, Americans for Indian Opportunity Ambassador Program, Albuquerque, New Mexico

International Experience:

Visiting Faculty, Universidad de Colima, Mexico, January 2010

Visiting Faculty, Universidad Tecnológica del Valle de Mezquital, Ixmiquilpan, Mexico, January 2010

Americans for Indian Opportunity Ambassador Program faculty, travel to visit indigenous communities and  people in Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela (1990s)

NEH Summer Institute to study ancient Maya, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (1997)

University of Montana FIPSE Tri-national (Canada-U.S.-Mexico) Mobility Grant representative