Elizabeth Ellis is Peewaalia and a citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. She is an Associate Professor of History at Princeton University and specializes in Indigenous history in the American south and east during the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries. Her research interests include Indigenous migration, borderlands, early Native American writing, Indigenous slavery, and twentieth-century Native American politics. Ellis also regularly writes about contemporary Indigenous issues and is a committed advocate for Indigenous self-determination.
In her book, The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South, Ellis examines the history of the smaller Native American nations of the Lower Mississippi Valley and highlights how these groups shaped and challenged the development of colonial Louisiana. Central to this story is the movement of these Indigenous groups and practices of providing refuge for one another, creating new communities of multiple nations, cultures, and languages. She argues that these relations between nations both contributed to their resilience in the face of colonial violence and can tell us about Indigenous nation building, diplomacy, and power in this region. Ellis also demonstrates how understanding the history of these smaller nations is vital in the present day as Indigenous communities continue to fight for sovereignty and resist further dispossession.
Currently, Ellis is involved in several collaborative projects, including the “Indigenous Borderlands of North America” research project and the 2023-2024 Mellon Sawyer Seminar “Indigenous Futures in Times of Crisis” where she acts as the primary investigator. She’s also part of the “Reclaiming Stories Project” which brings together academics, tribal cultural experts, and artists to research and revitalize early Miami and Peoria culture. Ellis is interested in exploring the early writing and tattoo practices among Native American people, particularly how tattoos and body paint functioned as markers of belonging and difference. Ellis also serves as the tribal historical liason for the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
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Select Works:
The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press: 2022.
“Indigenous, Native American, or American Indian? The Limitations of Broad Terms,” with Brooke Bauer, Journal of the Early Republic 43, no. 1 (2023), 61-74
“Reconsidering Theory and Accountability in Early American Studies,” Journal of the Early Republic 43, no. 1 (2023), 139-148
“Land Acknowledgements: Helpful, Harmful, Hopeful” with Rose Stremlau, Perspectives on History: The newsmagazine of the American Historical Association 11/5/2022
“COVID, Collective Resistance and Columbus: Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2020,” Colorlines, 10/11/2020
“Carrying Illinois Stories Around the World,” Interpretations of a Robe, Aacimotaatiiyankwi: Myaamia Research Center Blog, 12/15/2020 https://aacimotaatiiyankwi.org/myaamia-history/interpretations-of-a-robe/carrying-illinois-stories-across-the-world/
“The Borders Crossed Us Too: Migrant Justice and Border Crossing in Indigenous North American Communities.” Institute for the Study of International Development Speaker Series, McGill University, 11 October 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kECz8yUbcpc
Ellis, Elizabeth. “The Natchez War Revisited: Violence, Multinational Settlements, and Indigenous Diplomacy in the Lower Mississippi Valley.” The William and Mary Quarterly 77, no. 3 (2020): 441-472.
“Decolonizing Land Pt. 1 A Conversation with Professor Elizabeth Ellis.” Villanova University, 27 October 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjznwI0oABI
“Voices From The Standing With Standing Rock Movement.” Interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, 1 November 2019. https://www.wpr.org/listen/1546446
“Centering Sovereignty: How Standing Rock Changed the Conversation,” Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement, ed. Jaskiran Dhillon and Nick Estes (University of Minnesota Press) 2019
“The Border(s) Crossed Us Too: The Intersections of Native American and Immigrant Fights for Justice” Emisférica14. no. 1 (2018)
“Dismantling the Dream of ‘France’s Peru’: Indian and African Influence on the Development of Early Colonial Louisiana.” In The World of Colonial America, edited by Ignacio Gallup-Diaz, 355–372. New York, Routledge: 2017.
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