Joy Porter

125^th Anniversary Professor of Indigenous & Environmental History

[email protected]

School of History and Cultures
College of Arts and Law

ORCID | LinkedIN

Scopus Author ID: 55975278200

Specialities: Indigenous Environmentalism, Conservation & Development, Global Environmental Politics, Political Ecology, Trauma Studies, Decolonization, Heritage, Museum & Archive Studies.

Joy Porter is University of Birmingham 125^th Anniversary Chair, Professor of Indigenous and Environmental History and Principal Investigator of the Treatied Spaces Research Group, an interdisciplinary, internationally collaborative entity dedicated to addressing Indigenous environmental, political, and historical concerns. Her current major project is a multi-partner attempt to re-vision how historic houses are perceived and valued entitled ‘Historic Houses Global Connections’ (AHRC SRG, PL Porter, 1.49M, 36 months from 2 September 2024).

Joy is also PI for the AHRC Standard Research Grant “Brightening the Covenant Chain: Revealing Cultures of Diplomacy Between the Iroquois and the British Crown” (2021-2024, 931k), PI Host for the 2019-2024 British Academy Global Professor, Gregory Smithers, completing the project “Native Ecologies” (829k) and PI Host for Leverhulme Visiting Professor Damien Lee, 2024-2025, completing a portfolio of work including plans for “A First Indigenous History of American Adoption”.
 
Joy’s latest book is Trauma, Primitivism and the First World War: The Making of Frank Prewett (Bloomsbury, 2021). Her next is Canada’s Green Challenge, under contract with McGill University Press for 2025. She has over 38 publications, including 4 research monographs and three other books.

Alongside Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes), California State University and Dr Clint Carroll (Cherokee), University of Colorado, Joy is Lead Editor of the Cambridge University Press book series, Elements in Indigenous Environmental Research.

Joy serves on the UKRI Interdisciplinary Assessment Panel as a Rover, is a member of the AHRC Strategic Review College and reviews for Fulbright, AHRC, NERC and Leverhulme. She is External Examiner for BA History and Environmental Sustainability Summer School, University of Bristol. She served on the REF 2020 Sub-Panel (History) and REF 2020 Interdisciplinary Advisory Panel.
 
Joy’s recent activities, media appearances, and recorded talks are available here.

Joy delivers keynotes and invited lectures across Europe and North America (Universities of Copenhagen, Geneva, Oxford, Cambridge, Westpoint, Yale, UCD, Harvard Law School and Virginia Commonwealth). Her work has benefited from a series of awards (Leverhulme Major Fellowship & Fellowship, AHRC Fellowship, British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship, British Association of Canadian Studies Award, Association of Canadian Studies in the U.S. Award, Canadian Government Research Award).
 
A 2016 Fulbright All-Disciplines Visiting Scholar within the Department of Native Studies at Dartmouth, New Hampshire, Joy has also held Visiting Professorships at the University of Paris, Diderot at The Clinton Institute, Dublin. She was Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer for the College of Arts & Humanities, Swansea University, UK., 2004-2012, and Senior Lecturer in American History at Anglia Ruskin, Cambridge, 1992-2004.

Joy’s long-term commitment to supporting the needs of students from diverse educational backgrounds was recognised in 2018 by the award of a National Teaching Fellowship, and in 2014, by Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

Professor Porter carries out consultancy and knowledge exchange work across sectors. She recently spearheaded work with exam boards and publishers to Indigenise U.K. GCSE and A-Level provision and improve the historical accuracy of representation of Indigenous peoples within UK schools. The work is ongoing.

Qualifications/Education

PhD, Nottingham University, 1994.
Masters, Nottingham University, 1990.

Teaching
Approach: Interdisciplinary, Student centred, Research-led, Applied to Global Challenges

2018 National Teaching Fellow

2014 Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Research/publications
“Treatied Space: North American Indigenous Treaties in a Global Context” in Anne McGrath & L. Russell eds., Companion to Indigenous Global History, New York: Routledge, 2021

Trauma, Primitivism and the First World War: The Making of Frank Prewett ISBN: HB: 978-1-3501-9972-9e; eBook: 978-1-3501-9974-3, 6 May 2021.
Profiled: The Observer, The Fulbrighter British Library Eccles Centre Book Launch

British Library Pamphlet The 14^th Eccles Centre for Canadian  Studies Plenary Lecture , “Who Fights for Canada as the Climate Changes?” delivered at the British Association of Canadian Studies Annual Conference, 2019, London: British Library, published 2020. 

“Horror and Aspects of Native American Indian Literature”, in K. Costorphine & L. Kremmel, The Handbook to Horror Literature The Handbook to Horror Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 45-60.

Canada’s Green Challenge, McGill University Press, under contract, 2025.
An interdisciplinary analysis of the challenge facing Canada as a mining economy confronting unprecedented environmental threat and technological change.

What Would Nixon Do? : The Forgotten Republican Roots of American Environmentalism, University of Nebraska Press, 2025, under contract. 

New edition of Joy Porter’s 2001 book ‘To Be Indian’ featuring an additional preface by Seneca Nation Clan Mother, Odie Brant Porter: University of Oklahoma Press, 2023

Sample Impact, Knowledge Exchange and Engagement
Director’s Seminar UCL Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP): “Indigenous Environmental History and Its Relevance to Future Prosperity” (2022)

Plenary Lecture: “Into the Wild: Indigenous American Futures”. Annual Conference of the Irish Association For American Studies: IAAS “American Gone Wild” Conference, Dublin City University, 2022.

Collaborations
Lead Editor, Cambridge University Press Series, Elements in Indigenous Environmental Research, 2021 – with Dr Clint Carroll (Cherokee), University of Colorado and Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Coville Confederated Tribes), California State University.

Professional Activities/Service/Memberships, and Honours

2023 –                 Fellow, Royal Historical Society

2023-2025          UKRI Interdisciplinary Assessment College member, Rover, tensioning across review panels.

2023-               Advisory Board, History Today

2017-2022        U.K. Research Excellence Framework 2020 History Sub-Panel Full Member: Assessment, Impact, Environment.

2017-2022        U.K. Research Excellence Framework 2020 Interdisciplinary Panel Member.

2017-               Member, AHRC Strategic Review Panel

2017-               Member, AHRC Peer Review Panel (History, Thought & Culture)

2016-               Ambassador, Interview Panel Member & ECR Mentor, Fulbright United States-United Kingdom Educational Commission

2014-2024        External Examiner, University of Bristol, Department of History.

Book Prizes

2024 Nominated UK entry (Trauma, Primitivism and the First World War) for International Council for Canadian Studies Pierre Savard Award 2024. Award designates exceptional books that contribute to excellent scholarship in Canadian Studies.

2006 Writer of the Year Award, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers, for Cambridge Companion to Native American Literature, Cambridge University Press

2002 Outstanding Academic Title Award, American Library Association’s Choice Magazine, for To Be Indian: The Life of Iroquois-Seneca Arthur Caswell Parker, Foreword W. N. Fenton, The University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.

Knowledge Exchange Awards

2022-2024  PI, UKRI IAA AHRC KE Fellowship- “Indigenizing the UK Curriculum: Global Indigenous Inclusion” (54,656.81k)

2023      PI, UKRI IAA AHRC Impact Acceleration Gathering Impact evaluation Materials on Funded Museum Exhibition, Artist’s Residency & Schools Outreach Programme”(2k)

2022      PI, UKRI Policy Fund Support “Decolonizing Indigenous Representation at GCSE & A-Level” (14,985k).