Jennifer O'Neal
Biography
Jennifer R. O'Neal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon, and affiliated faculty with the History department, Robert D. Clark Honors College, and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program. Her interdisciplinary research and teaching focus on Native American, United States, and international relations history in the twentieth century to the present, with an emphasis on sovereignty, self-determination, cultural heritage, global Indigenous rights, activism, and legal issues. Her work has been published in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Journal of Western Archives, Western Humanities Review, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Museum Anthropology Review, and numerous edited books. She leads the development of the Indigenous Knowledge and Data Sovereignty Center and serves as a faculty co-director the Native American and Indigenous Studies Academic Residential Community, established in 2016. Over the past twenty years she has assisted in leading the implementation of best practices for Native American archival materials in non-tribal repositories through the collective development of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (2006). She is an enrolled member of The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
Education
PhD, History, Georgetown University
Master of Arts, Library and Information Science, University of Arizona
Master of Arts, History, Utah State University
Publications
Selected Articles and Chapters:
“Global Information Resurgence: Transforming Indigenous Archival Sovereignty through International Indigenous Relationality,” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 49: no. 1 (2026), 103-130; Special Issue on Indigenous Resurgence.
“International Archival Activism: Reflections on the Right to Know, Right of Reply and Right to Govern from Native North America” in The Indigenous Right of Reply to Archives: Working Towards Indigenous Sovereignty, Healing, and Justice, ed. Indigenous Archive Collective, Routledge Press, 2026.
“Responsibility with Heart: Protecting Indigenous Data Sovereignty in Traditional Ecological Knowledge.” in Indigenous Voices: Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge, ed. Lara Alanna Jacobs, 295-310, Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2025.
“‘An International Approach to Indian Affairs’: The Role of Indigenous Women in Building Cross Border Alliances in the International Red Power Era,” Women and Social Movements 29: no. 1 (2025); Special Issue on Indigenous Feminism.
“Indigenous Studies in Archives and Beyond: Relationships, Reciprocity, and Responsibilities,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 113: no. 1 (Spring 2024): 1-9. (*special issue volume editor)
“Indigenizing Research and Archives: Relationality and the Collections Back Movement,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 113: no. 1 (Spring 2024): 11-27. (*special issue volume editor)
“Transforming Collecting,” In Indigenous Languages and the Promise of Archives. eds. Link, Adrianna, Abigail Shelton, and Patrick Spero, 425-429. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2021.
“The Northern Paiute History Project: Engaging Undergraduates in Decolonizing Research with Tribal Communities,” with Kevin Hatfield, Western Humanities Review, vol. 74, no. 3 (2020): 193-214.
"From Time Immemorial: Centering Indigenous Traditional Knowledge in the Archival Paradigm," Afterlives of Indigenous Archives, eds. Ivy Scweitzer and Gordon Henry, University of Chicago Press, 2019.
Michelle M. Jacob, Emily West Hartlerode, Joanna Jensen, Kelly M. LaChance, and Jennifer R. O'Neal. "Placing Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledges at the Center of Our Research and Teaching," Journal of Folklore and Education, vol. 5, no. 2 (2018).
Mark Carey, Kathy Lynn, Kevin Hatfield, and Jennifer R. O'Neal. "Teaching about Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: Decolonizing Research and Broadening Knowledge," Teaching Climate Change in the Humanities, eds. Stephen Siperstein, Shane Hall, and Stephanie LeMenager. New York: Routledge, 2016.
"'The Right to Know: Decolonizing Native American Archives," Journal of Western Archives 6, no. 1 (2015).
"Respect, Recognition, and Reciprocity: The Protocols for Native American Archival Materials," in Identity Palimpsests: Archiving Ethnicity in the US and Canada, eds. Dominique Daniel and Amalia Levi, 125-142. Sacramento: Litwin Press, 2014.
“Going Home: The Digital Return of Films at the National Museum of the American Indian,” Museum Anthropology Review 7, no. 1 (2013): 166-184.
“Cultural Stewardship at the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center,” Calicut University Folkloristics Journal, 2010.
Honors and Awards
Wayne Morse Center Resident Scholar (2023-24)
Katrin H. Lamon Research Fellowship, School for Advanced Research (2022-23)
Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation Faculty Research Award, University of Oregon (2020-21)
Center for the Study of Women in Society, Faculty Research Award, University of Oregon (2020)
Sustainability Award, University of Oregon (2020)
Rippey Innovative Teaching Award, University of Oregon (2018-2019)
Henry Roe Cloud Dissertation Fellowship, Yale University (2018-2019)
Outstanding Faculty Award, Center for Multicultural and Academic Excellence, University of Oregon (2015)
Diversity Excellence Award, Society of American Archivists (2014)
Teaching
- ES 199: Seminar: Native American and Indigenous Studies Academic Residential Community
- ES 256: Intro to Native American Studies
- ES 321: Indigenous Peoples of Oregon
- ES 407/507: Native American Activism
- ES 410/510: Indigenous Data Sovereignty
- ES 410/510: Working with Tribes in Oregon
- ES 468/568: Indigenous Research Methods and Ethics
Past Courses: - HC 444 Decolonizing Research: The Northern Paiute History Project
- HIST 199: Hidden History: Freshman Interest Group
- HIST 211: Reacting to the Past: Native American Diplomacy
- CAS 101: Reacting to the Past: Forest Diplomacy and Red Clay