Curriculum Vitae

Office: University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Archeological Survey; 111 East Chesapeake; Norman, OK 73019
Phone: 405.325.8665
E-mail: rsfair@ou.edu or rhondasfair@gmail.com

Education 
  • Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, Department of Anthropology (2007)
  • M.A., University of Oklahoma, Department of Anthropology (2000)
  • B.A., Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University (1997)

Dissertation
  • Social Networks and Knowledge Systems among the Caddo and Delaware of Western Oklahoma

Academic Appointments and Positions 
  • Tribal Liaison (2005-present): Cultural Resources Program, Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor (2008-present): College of Liberal Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
  • Curator and Archivist (2003-2005): Caddo Heritage Museum, Caddo Nation of Oklahoma; Binger, Oklahoma.
  • Instructor (2003-2005): Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
  • Instructor (2003): College of Liberal Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
  • NAGPRA Program Director (2002-2003): Delaware Nation; Anadarko, Oklahoma.
  • Graduate Research Assistant (2001-2003): Division of Ethnology, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
  • Instructor (2000-2001): Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
  • Staff Archaeologist (1999-2001): Oklahoma Archaeological Survey, Community Assistance Program.
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant (1998-1999): Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman.

Grants and Fellowships: External Sources
  • National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (2003, Award number BCS-0240056). “Knowledge Systems and Social Networks: The Delaware Nation and Its Neighbors.” 
  • American Philosophical Society, Phillips Fund for Native American Research. “Traditional Culture of the Western Delaware.” (2002)
  • Nahuatl Summer Language Institute Fellowship. Yale University and the Latin American Studies Consortium of New England (1999)

Grants and Fellowships: Internal Sources
  • Morris E. Opler Endowment Fund. Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman. (2005)
  • Robert E. Bell Fund for Graduate Research. Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman. (2005)
  • University of Oklahoma Graduate Student Senate Conference and Creative Exhibition grant. In support of travel to the Society for Applied Anthropology’s Annual Meeting. (2005)
  • University of Oklahoma Graduate College Dissertation Research Grant. “Knowledge Systems and Social Networks: The Delaware Nation and Its Neighbors.” (2002)
  • Morris E. Opler Endowment Fund. Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman. (2002)
  • Robert E. Bell Fund for Graduate Research. Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman. (2002)
  • University of Oklahoma Graduate Student Senate Conference and Creative Exhibition grant. In support of travel to the Oklahoma Museums Association Annual Meeting. (2002)
  • Morris E. Opler Endowment Fund. Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman. (2001)
  • Robert E. Bell Fund for Graduate Research. Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman. (2001)
  • University of Oklahoma Graduate Student Senate Research and Creative Activity Grant. (2001)
  • University of Oklahoma Graduate Student Senate Research and Creative Activity Grant. (1999)
  • University of Oklahoma Graduate Student Senate Conference and Creative Exhibition Grant. In support of travel to the Plains Anthropological Conference. (1999)

Grants Written for Tribal Organizations and Governments
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Small Grants Program. In support of “Hasinai Youth Camp.” (2011)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Small Grants Program. In support of “Caddo Song and Dance Classes: Reviving the Raccoon Dance” (2010)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Small Grants Program. In support of “Hasinai Youth Camp.” (2010)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Small Grants Program. In support of “Caddo Song and Dance Classes.” (2009)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Small Grants Program. In support of “Hasinai Youth Camp.” (2009)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Small Grants Program. In support of “Caddo Song and Dance Classes.” (2008)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Small Grants Program. In support of “Hasinai Youth Camp.” (2008)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Small Grants Program. In support of “Hasinai Youth Camp.” (2007)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Festival Grants Program. In support of “Hasinai Youth Camp.” (2006)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Mini-Grant Program. In support of “Caddo Music Workshops.” (2005)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Festival Grants Program. In support of “Caddo Cultural Festival and Symposium.” (2005)
  • Oklahoma Humanities Council and National Endowment for the Humanities. Mini-Grant Program. In support of “Caddo Cultural Festival and Symposium.” (2005)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Mini-Grant Program. In support of the exhibit “A Loving Struggle: Contemporary Caddo Art.” (2004)
  • Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Master/Apprenticeship Grant Program. In support of “Preserving Traditional Caddo Music.” (2004)
  • United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Delaware Nation NAGPRA Documentation Grant. (2003)
  • United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Delaware Nation NAGPRA Repatriation Grant. (2003)

Publications 
  • Stomp Dance. Coauthored with Jason Baird Jackson. In Encyclopedia of Alabama online. (2007)
  • Wichita. In New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 6: Ethnicity. Celeste Ray, volume editor. Pp. 251-252. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. (2007)
  • The Domestic Mode of Production and Risk Management in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Southern Anthropologist 29(2):29-46. (2003)
  • No Teepees Here (Southeastern Indian Architecture). Cobblestone (October 2003): 22-23. (2003)
  • Becoming the White Man’s Indian: An Examination of Native American Tribal Web Sites. Plains Anthropologist 45(172):203-213. (2000)

Book Reviews 
  • Uncommon Threads: Wabanaki Textiles, Clothing, and Costume. Bruce J. Bourque and Laureen A. LaBar, authors. Museum Anthropology Review 5(1-2): 96-98. (2011)
  • Negotiation Basics for Cultural Resource Managers, Nicholas Dorochoff, author. Museum Anthropology 33(1):81-83. (2010)
  • Native Hubs: Culture, Community and Belonging in Silicon Valley and Beyond, Reyna Ramirez, author. Anthropology Review Database. (2009)
  • Playing Ourselves: Interpreting Native Histories at Historic Reconstructions, Laura Peers, author. Museum Anthropology Review 2(2):127-128. (2008)
  • Voices from the Delaware Big House Ceremony, Robert S. Grumet, editor. Oklahoma Archaeology 50(3):8-9. (2002)

Museum Exhibitions 
  • “A Loving Struggle: Contemporary Caddo Art.” Caddo Heritage Museum; Binger, Oklahoma. Duties included all phases of research, planning, obtaining grant support, exhibit design, installation, and promotion. (2005)
  • “Caddo Clothing: Traditional Men’s Shirts.” Caddo Heritage Museum; Binger, Oklahoma. Duties included all phases of research, planning, exhibit design, installation, and promotion, as well as designing a digital component, available on-line at http://www.caddonation-nsn.gov/Programs/Museum.htm. (2004)
  • “The Mark Allen Everett Collection: Ancient Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Pottery.” A digital exhibit designed for the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Available on-line at http://www.snomnh.ou.edu. (2003)
  • “From Navajoland to Oklahoma: Diné Textiles.” A joint exhibit between the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and the Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa, Oklahoma). Duties included photography of Navajo textiles, research on the history of Navajo textiles and their production, installation assistance, and preparation of text panels. (2003)
  • “The Fabric of Mayan Life: An Exhibit of Textiles.” A digital exhibit designed for the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Division of Ethnology. Duties included extensive research on Mayan textiles, digital photography of the collection, and development of an on-line exhibit available at http://www.snomnh.ou.edu. (2002)

Conference Presentations
  • “The Life and Death of Tradition: The Caddo Ghost Dance and the Delaware Big House Ceremony.” 67th Annual Plains Anthropological Conference; Norman, Oklahoma. (2009)
  • “In the Middle of Powwow Country: Cultural Complexity among the Caddo and Delaware in Western Oklahoma.” 104th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association; Washington, D.C. (2005)
  • “Preserving Knowledge, Building Networks: The Work of Culture among the Caddo and Delaware Tribes of Oklahoma.” 65th Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology; Santa Fe, New Mexico. (2005)
  • “The Domestic Mode of Production and Risk Management in Quintana Roo, Mexico.” Annual Southern Anthropological Society Meeting; Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (2003)
  • “Bringing Fieldnotes Back to the Field: An Ethnographic Adventure in Western Oklahoma.” 101st Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association; New Orleans, Louisiana. (2002)
  • “Using the Past to Explore the Present: Changes in the Traditional Culture of the Wichita Indians and Their Neighbors.” 60th Annual Plains Anthropological Conference; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (2002)
  • “Going Digital: The Nuts and Bolts of On-line Exhibits.” Oklahoma Museums Association Annual Conference; Broken Bow, Oklahoma. (2002)
  • “The Culture and History of the Kichai (Keechi).” 43rd Annual Caddo Conference; Norman, Oklahoma. (2001)
  • “Oklahoma Indians on the Internet.” Oklahoma Anthropological Society Spring Meeting; Norman, Oklahoma (2001)
  • “Becoming the White Man’s Indian: An Examination of Native American Tribal Web Sites.” 57th Annual Plains Anthropological Conference; Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (1999)

Invited Presentations
  • “The Delaware Nation and the Caddo Nation: Shared History, Shared Culture.” Delaware Nation History Summit; Anadarko, Oklahoma. (2010)
  • “The Hasinai Society of the Caddo Nation: Honoring the Role of Arts in Community Service.” Oklahoma Arts Council Statewide Arts Conference; Enid, Oklahoma. (2008)
  • “The Fabric of Mayan Life.” A paper presented at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Norman, Oklahoma (2003)
  • “Women’s Work in Indian Country.” A paper presented at Stetson University in conjunction with the College of Arts and Sciences and the Diversity Council; DeLand, Florida. (2003)
  • “Overcoming Obstacles to Successful Consultation: The Recent Experiences of the Delaware Nation.” 3rd Annual Byways to the Past Conference sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation; Indiana, Pennsylvania. (2003)

Conference Sessions Chaired or Organized
  • Social Complexity in Indian Country: Perspectives from Oklahoma. Reviewed by the Central States Anthropological Society. 104th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association; Washington, D.C. (2005)
  • General Historic Research. 60th Annual Plains Anthropological Conference; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (2002)

Awards and Honors
  • Southern Anthropological Society Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award for “The Domestic Mode of Production and Risk Management in Quintana Roo, Mexico.” Annual Southern Anthropological Society Meeting; Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (2003)
  • Plains Anthropological Society Outstanding Student Paper Award for “Becoming the White Man’s Indian: An Examination of Native American Tribal Web Sites.” 57th Annual Plains Anthropological Conference; Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (1999)

Ethnographic Photographs Published 
  • The closing dance of the 2006 Hasinai Youth Camp in Binger, Oklahoma. In World Literature Today 81(5):37. (2007)
  • Young Caddos learning traditional Turkey Dance songs at the drum. In New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 6: Ethnicity. Celeste Ray, volume editor. P. 105. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. (2007)
  • Turkey Dance sponsored by Lenape Legacy, the cultural club of the Western Delaware, and the Caddo Culture Club. In Handbook of North American Indians: Volume 14: Southeast. P. 695. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. (2004)
  • Various photographs used in Tejas: Life and Times of the Caddo, a digital exhibit by the College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas at Austin. In particular, see the section Created in Clay: Reviving a Lost Tradition (http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/clay/reviving.html). (2003)

Language Proficiencies
  • Spanish: Intermediate fluency. 
  • Caddo: Studied weekly with native speakers as part of the Caddo Language Program.  Member of Caddo Language Project Committee.
  • Nahuatl: Coursework taken as part of Yale University’s Nahuatl Summer Language Institute.

Fieldwork Experience: Ethnographic 
  • Ethnographic research on traditional arts of the Caddo people; Binger and surrounding communities, Oklahoma (2006-present)
  • Ethnographic research on knowledge systems and social networks among the Wichita, Caddo, and Delaware tribes; Anadarko, Binger, and surrounding areas, Oklahoma (2002-2006)
  • Ethnographic research on risk management strategies and household-level economic practices; Chilapa, Guerrero, Mexico (1998)
  • Preliminary ethnographic reconnaissance, Boutillier and Petionville, Haiti (1996)

Fieldwork Experience: Archaeological
  • Archaeological excavations at 34Gt47, a prehistoric village site; near Medford, Grant County, Oklahoma
  • Archaeological mitigation at 34Gr177, an early 20th century site associated with the Sulphur Springs Resort; Robert Bartlett, supervisor; Granite, Greer County, Oklahoma (2010)
  • Archaeological excavations at 34Sq352; Robert Bartlett, supervisor; Sequoyah County, Oklahoma (2008)
  • Archaeological excavations at 34Ad194, an Archaic lithic workshop; Robert Bartlett, supervisor; Proctor, Adair County, Oklahoma (2006)
  • Archaeological excavations at 34Wn27, a prehistoric burned rock midden; Robert Bartlett, supervisor; near Copan, Washington County, Oklahoma (2005)
  • Archaeological excavations at Norman Naval Air Station, a World War II era training facility and artillery range; Robert Bartlett, supervisor; Norman, Cleveland County, Oklahoma (2005)
  • Archaeological excavations at the Shephard Site (34Cu220), a Turkey Creek village site dating to 1300 – 1450 AD; Richard Drass, supervisor; near Arapahoe, Custer County, Oklahoma (2001)

Workshops Attended 
  • Consulting with Tribal Nations. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (2010)
  • Museum Accessioning, Registration, and Collections (MARC) Course. Oklahoma Museums Association. (2002)
  • Research Design Institute for Cultural Anthropology. National Science Foundation. (2001)

Courses Taught: Undergraduate Level 
  • Peoples of the World / Cultural Anthropology: A general introduction to cultural anthropology with a balance between core theoretical models of the discipline and a broad geographic coverage. University of Oklahoma, Department of Anthropology.
  • Evolution of Human Expression: An examination of the development of human expression with particular emphasis on human evolution, the role of technology, and the myriad cultural forms that expression takes.University of Oklahoma, College of Liberal Studies.

Courses Taught or Developed: Graduate Level                                       
  • The Archaeology of Troy: An overview of the historicity of Troy and the Trojan War, including an examination of the material culture described in Homer’s Iliad and its application to archaeological research. University of Oklahoma, College of Liberal Studies.
  • American Indian Education and Its Impact: A course examining the role of U.S. educational policy in the lives of 19th and 20th century Native Americans, including the underlying philosophies behind the assimilationist uses of education, particularly boarding schools, and the effect that these programs had on Native American culture and traditions. University of Oklahoma, College of Liberal Studies.
  • Ways of Knowing in Native American Studies: A course that aims to familiarize the student with various “ways of knowing” – including oral history and traditions, science, participant observation, archival research, collaborative approaches, and so forth – used by researchers working in Native American Studies. University of Oklahoma, College of Liberal Studies. 

Professional Affiliations: Current and Former 
  • American Anthropological Association, General Anthropology Division
  • Society for Applied Anthropology
  • Plains Anthropological Society
  • Oklahoma Anthropological Society, Southwest Chapter
  • Oklahoma Museums Association

Community Service Activities 
  • Website administrator and grant writer, Hasinai Society of the Caddo Nation (2005-present)
  • Volunteer, Hasinai Caddo Summer Youth Camp (2002-present)
  • Member of Caddo Language Project Committee (2005)
  • Website administrator, Caddo Nation of Oklahoma (2003-2005)

Research Interests 
Topical and theoretical interests include social networks and social structure, material culture and museum anthropology, knowledge systems, cultural preservation efforts, expressive culture, economic and ecological anthropology. Geographic areas of specialty include Native North America, particularly the Eastern Woodlands and the Southern Plains, and Latin America with an emphasis on Mesoamerica.

References
  • Available upon request