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Since earning my PhD Anthropology from Stanford in 2004 for research into Maya activism’s influence on local language ideologies and land conflicts in Guatemala, my primary teaching has dealt with anti-colonial struggles for autonomy by Native groups from across the Americas. I teach about Indigenous religion and realities at Wilfrid Laurier while continuing to conduct research into indigenous spoken and signed languages, resource conflicts, political activism, popular culture, ethnohistory, and religious ideologies in Mesoamerica and North America.
I take pride in finding humorously odd angles on the all-too-frequently discomforting social realities I teach and study. For example, to explain under-acknowledged-yet-popular race/class/gender ideologies, I have not only dabbled in the science of barbology, but have also taught a curse-filled course on cursing. I have also re-directed skills as a cartoonist into a long-term project of documenting and promoting Meemul Tziij: a set of ancient Indigenous sign languages used in Mexico and Guatemala that may be the oldest documentable sign languages on the planet.
- Distinguished Alumni Scholar award, Stanford University (2010)
I look forward to working with students in the general area of Indigenous Studies, including ancient and modern history, (signed and spoken) languages, environmentalism, literature, contemporary social movements, or the geographic area of Mesoamerica. I have supervised past students not only in local fieldwork and library research, but also in international projects. I have even taken past students abroad to work with me in an indigenous K’ichee’-Maya community in Guatemala. Undergraduate research projects I have supervised have been in fields as diverse as anthropology, religion, environmental studies, art history, and linguistics.
- Fox Tree, Erich “Diasporic Indigeneity: Indigenizing Indigenous Immigrants and Nativizing Native Nations.” Label Me Latino/a. 5(2). Winter 2016.
- Fox Tree, Erich. “The Secret Sex Lives of Native American Barbies, from the Mysteries of Motherhood, to the Magic of Colonialism.” In Doll Studies: The Many Meanings of Girls’ Toys and Play, Miriam Forman-Brunell and Jennifer Whitney, eds. Peter Lang Publishing (ISBN-13: 978-1433120695), pp. 227-256.
- Fox Tree, Erich. “Global Linguistics, Mayan Languages and the Cultivation of Autonomy,” in Indigenous People and Autonomy: Insights for a Global Age, edited by M. Blaser, W. Coleman, R. de Costa, and D. McGregor. UBC Press. (2010)
- Fox Tree, Erich. “Meemul Tziij: An Indigenous Sign Language Complex of Mesoamerica,” Sign Language Studies. (2009)
- Charles Price, Donald Nonini, and Erich Fox Tree. “Grounded Utopian Movements: Objects of Neglect.” Anthropological Quarterly. (2008)
- Erich Fox Tree & Julia Gómez Ixmatá “Junamaam Ib’: solidaridad y defensa colectiva en Nahualá durante la violencia guatemalteca.” Mesoamerica, Jan-Dec. 2007, 49(1): 51-81. (2007)
- Fox Tree, Erich. “The Talk of Tulan, the Diversification of Languages, and the Science of Maya Legends,” SECOLAS Annals, 2006, 38(1): 133-154. (2006)
RE100 -- Religions of the Americas: Indigenous, African, and European
RE106 -- Religion and Visual Culture
RE211 -- Indigenous Religions
RE308 -- Doing Fieldwork
RE350 -- Forbidden Language
Contact Info:
Office location: Dr. Alvin Woods Building, Room 2-119
Office hours: TBA
Languages spoken: English, Spanish, German, K’ichee’-Mayan, Tz’utujiil-Mayan, Meemul Tziij of Western Guatemala (an indigenous sign language)