THIPS - meet the project team
Caroline Pennock, University of Sheffield, c.pennock@sheffield.ac.uk
I am Professor in International History at the University of Sheffield, and probably best known as the only British Aztec historian. My first trade book, On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe came out in paperback last year and provided the springboard for this project. The book turns the traditional Eurocentric narrative of the Age of Discovery on its head, telling the stories of thousands of Aztecs, Maya, Inuit, Algonquian-speaking people and others who 'discovered' Europe as enslaved people, traders, diplomats, family members, and explorers. I have always been keen on communicating history to a broad audience, in particular trying to dismantle the damaging myths about Indigenous histories and cultures which have so frequently dominated public discourse. As well as acting as a popular history writer, consultant, and 'talking head' expert for TV, radio, publishers and museums, I have recently been consulting for exam boards and working with teachers and schools on developing their Indigenous-history teaching.
Jacqueline Fear-Segal, University of East Anglia, J.Fear-Segal@uea.ac.uk
Jacqueline Fear-Segal is Professor Emeritus of American and Indigenous Histories at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. She works to integrate histories and perspectives of Indigenous Americans into standard university curricula at all levels, and also into school curricula in the USA. Her research and writing on “Indian” boarding schools and the US government’s campaign to re-educate and assimilate Indigenous children motivated her to become a founding partner of the Carlisle Indian School Digital Research Center https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/. She worked with Professor David Stirrup on the AHRC-funded project Beyond the Spectacle: Native North American Presence in Britain. She is co-Director of the Indigenous Studies Research Network UK.
David Stirrup, CISCS, University of York, david.stirrup@york.ac.uk
David Stirrup joined York in 2023 as Professor of American Literature and Indigenous Studies, having spent the previous 19 years at the University of Kent. His research interests in Indigenous Studies include Native North American literature and visual art, social and cultural history, and methodological ethics. He is the author of two monographs (Louise Erdrich, Manchester UP, 2010; and Picturing Worlds: Visuality and Visual Sovereignty in Contemporary Anishinaabe Literature, Michigan State UP, 2020), and has co-edited four volumes of essays and four special journal issues on subjects ranging from culture and the Canada-US Border to Native Americans in the European Imaginary, and has been Principle Investigator on four large grant projects, including Beyond the Spectacle. David is also a founding co-editor of the online, open access journal Transmotion, which publishes scholarship on contemporary, innovative Indigenous writing from around the world.vIn 2019 David launched Europe’s first Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies at the University of Kent, drawing on a broad network of institutions in the UK, US, and Canada. The “hub” of the Centre has moved to York with him, with co-Directors at Kent, Alberta, and London College of Communications.
Alex Ford, Leeds Trinity University and Schools History Project, A.Ford@leedstrinity.ac.uk
Alex Ford is lead tutor on the PGCE History course at Leeds Trinity University and a Fellow of the Schools History Project. Prior to 2016, Alex was head of history in a large, mixed comprehensive in Leeds. He has published a number of textbooks and textbook chapters, including on US expansion in the 19th century. His educational research interests include: the nature and purposes of school history; the building of professional learning communities; and the teaching of 19th century US history. He also runs the teaching and learning website and blog, www.andallthat.co.uk.