People
Rhiannon Koehler
Assistant Professor
CONTACT Information and CV
Office: TBD
Email: TBD
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
Ph.D., University of California Los Angeles, 2018
TEACHING
My classes focus on American history from the nation’s inception to the present, often emphasizing the stories of Indigenous peoples, ethnic “others,” unpropertied individuals, and immigrants. I offer survey courses including American History to 1877; American History 1877 to Present; American Indian History to 1830; American Indian History 1830-Present; 19th Century US History; History of the US West; and Migration, Disease, and Conquest. I have also taught courses on religious expression, the anthropology of food, social justice comics, and utopias and dystopias.
In the classroom, I prioritize providing students with multiple access points to material, offering opportunities to engage with relevant primary sources and individual testimonies as well as images, photographs, music, art, performances, and film. My courses encourage historiographic engagement and opportunities to develop critical thinking and writing skills. I also encourage my students to think creatively about engaging with course material and to consider the ways that history and culture co-inform our world. Finally, my classrooms are a safe space for all students to explore new topics and cultivate their interests.
RESEARCH
My research focuses on the phenomenon of forced removals in American history. My first book is Comics and Conquest: A Radical Retelling of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023), which examined the little-known battle for water, coal, and uranium resources underneath sacred, shared, Indigenous lands in the Four Corners region.
I am currently working on several shorter projects and one new book project that examines the forced removals of Italian Americans in the United States during World War II. My previous work has examined Diné and Hopi culture and the long history of genocide that characterized the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign of 1779.