Jodi Byrd facts for kids

Jodi Ann Byrd is a respected American professor and author who is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. They are an expert in Indigenous studies, which is the study of the history, culture, and governments of Native peoples.

Byrd is an associate professor at Cornell University, a top university in the United States. Their work explores how the lives of Indigenous people are affected by history, government, and even modern technology like video games. They are known for looking at old ideas in new ways and connecting them to today's world.

Family and Background

Byrd is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, a federally recognized Native American nation. They have a special family connection to the nation's history. Their great-granduncle, William L. Byrd, served as the governor of the Chickasaw Nation for two terms, from 1888 to 1892.

Education and Career Path

Jodi Ann Byrd has a strong academic background. After earning a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, they went to the University of Iowa. At Iowa, they earned both a master's degree and a Ph.D., which is the highest degree a person can get in a field of study. Their final research project for their Ph.D. was about the history of colonialism, which is when one group of people takes control of another's land.

Teaching Journey

Over the years, Byrd has taught at several major universities.

• University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: They started as an assistant professor, teaching about Indigenous politics.
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: They later moved to Illinois, where they were involved with the American Indian Studies Program.
• Cornell University: Currently, Byrd is a professor of English literature at Cornell, where they also work with the American Studies Program.

At the University of Illinois, Byrd showed strong leadership. When they disagreed with the university's decision not to hire a scholar they supported, they considered leaving. However, the university recognized Byrd's importance and created a new position for them to convince them to stay.

Leadership and Service

Besides teaching, Byrd has held important leadership roles. They served as the president of the Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures from 2011 to 2012. They are also a co-editor for a series of books published by Northwestern University Press that focuses on new and important ideas.

Awards and Recognition

Jodi Ann Byrd's work has earned them several major awards.

Their 2011 book, The Transit of Empire: Indigenous Critiques of Colonialism, was a big success. It won two important awards:

• The 2011 Best First Book of the Year from the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association.
• The 2012 Wordcraft Circle Award for Academic Work of the Year.

In 2008, they also won the Beatrice Medicine Award for an outstanding paper they wrote. The paper discussed serious issues facing Native American communities in the modern world.

Selected Works

Books

• The Transit of Empire: Indigenous Critiques of Colonialism (University of Minnesota Press, 2011, ISBN: 978-0816676415).