Dr. John Low

2097 A Louella Hodges Reese Hall
1179 University Drive
Newark, Ohio 43055

Areas of Expertise

• American Indian Studies, local and global Indigenous studies
• Museum Studies, Material Culture, and Representation
• Federal Indian law and treaty rights

Education

• PhD., University of Michigan
• J.D., University of Michigan

Dr. John N. Low received his PhD. in American Culture at the University of Michigan, and is an enrolled citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. He is also the recipient of a graduate certificate in Museum Studies and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan. He earned a BA from Michigan State University, a second BA in American Indian Studies from the University of Minnesota, and an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago.

Professor Low previously served as Executive Director of the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston, Illinois, and served as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Indians of the Midwest Project at the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library, and the State of Ohio Cemetery Law Task Force. He has presented frequently at conferences including the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA)), American Society for Ethnohistory (ASE) and the Organization of American Historians (OAH). He continues to serve as a member of his tribes’ Traditions and Repatriation Committee.

Ongoing Newark Earthwork's Center's Research

• Stepping Out and Stepping Up: The Land-Grant Truth and Reconciliation Project
  • Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zone and Stepping Up to Our Responsibilities
• Toward Truth and Reconciliation: Present-Day Indigenous Peoples in Ohio Grant
• Indigenous Ohio: OSU and Native Arts and Humanities Past and Present Grant
• Monuments of the Scioto Valley Grant

Research

• American Indians of Ohio Past, Present, and Future PowerPoint, 2019. (PDF)
• The Atlas Obscura Podcast
  • "Newark Earthworks," June 3, 2021.
• Ancient Monuments of America Giant Geometric Earthwork Complexes of the Hopewell Culture Powerpoint, 2020. (PDF)
• “Chief Topinabee – Using Tribal Memories to Better Understand American (Indian) History-Nwi Yathmomen-We Will Tell Our Story” in Ethnohistory. 70 (4),2023.
• “Chicago is on the lands of the Potawatomi – why Land Acknowledgments for Chicago should acknowledge this historical fact” Chicago History Magazine. [Under Peer Review].
• Confronting the Wealth Transfer from Tribal Nations that Established Land-Grant Universities: Steps toward atonement.
  • Gavazzi, S. M., Low, J.N. American Association of University Professors. 2022. [external link]
• "The Crossroads of Indigenous America" Video with Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi) in The Indigenous Tour of Northwestern University.
• Environmental Professionals Network | School of Environment and Natural Resources Career Services, The Ohio State University, Joe Campbell
  • Dibaginjigaadeg Anishinaabe Ezhitwaad, a tribal climate adaptation menu. January 12, 2021.
    • Speakers Jeff Sharp, Nicole Jackson, Ziigwanikwe (Katy Bresette), Gidigaa bizhiw (Jerry Jondreau), Sara Smith, Rob Croll, Kristen Schmitt, and John Low.
    • Resource List (PDF)
• "Exciting Times"
  • The Fertile Earth and the Ordered Cosmos: Reflections on the Newark Earthworks and World Heritage. edited by Elizabeth Weiser, Timothy Jordan, and Richard Shiels. The Ohio State University Press, June 2023.
• Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago
  • Michigan State University Press. 2016.
• “Let Us Tell the Story of Our Land and Place: Tribal Leader Interviews Concerning the Seizure and Sale of Territories Benefiting Land-Grant Universities."
  • Williams, R. B., Gavazzi, S. M., Roberts, M. E., Snyder, B. W., Low, J. N., Hoy, C., Chaatsmith, M. L., and Charles, M. Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education. Volume  33, No. 4- Summer 2022.
• "Monuments, Memorials and the Power of "Memory" ." John N. Low Chicago Monuments Project Recommendations for the Current and Future Collection. (15 -17 of 73)
• "Paying Old Debts" Williams, R.B., Gavazzi, S. M., Roberts, M.E., Chaatsmith, M.L., Hoy, C., Low., J. N., and Snyder, B. W. Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education. Vol. 33, No. 2. 2021. 
• Weiser, Elizabeth; Low, John; Madsen, Kenneth. 2019. "One site, many interpretations: managing heritage at an ancient American site," in Smeds, K. and Davis, A. (Eds.) Museum and Place.  Paris: ICOFOM (International Committee for Museology), pp. 138-161.
• "Foreword" by Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi) in Mapping Chicagou/Chicago: A Living Atlas, part of the Decolonizing the Chicago Cultural Center at the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial by the research collective The Settler Colonial City Project.
• "Pokégnek Bodéwadmik The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Survival and Revival through Storytelling" 2015. (PDF)
• Pokégnek Bodéwadmik | The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians | Keeper’s of the Fire
• The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago: Special Guest Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi).
  • November 2018 Lecture Video at the Moraine Valley Community College Library.
• "Pokagon Potawatomi Black Ash Baskets: Our Storytellers opens to the public April 16, 2021 in the Maran Gallery near the Maori House"
  • Pokegnek Yathdanawa issuu, June 2021, Page 5.
• "Pokagon Potawatomi Basket Making--Recollecting Nationhood"
• Pokagon Black Ash Baskets Facebook Livestream | The Field Museum
  • Dr. John Low [Pokagon Band of Potawatomi] and Monisa Ahmed, May 26, 2021.
• “Pokagon Potawatomi Black Ash Baskets: Our Storytellers.” In the Field Magazine. The Field Museum. Winter 2021. Page 13.
• "These are exciting times for Newark Earthworks." The Newark Advocate, October 6, 2019.
• Virtual Quest | Seeking Knowledge: Native People and Ohio
  • "Ohio History Connection's Virtual Quests are engaging online educational resources about Ohio's people and history.  Created in collaboration with community stakeholders, these digital resources provide remote learning opportunities for 4th-8th grade students."
• "Women's Leadership through the Women's Basket Cooperative in Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, 1983-2000"
• "WOSU Removing Confederate Monuments" Radio Show Recording.
  • June 29, 2020. All Sides with Ann Fisher with guests Elizabeth Brown, Columbus City Councilmember; Megan Wood, Director of Cultural Resources at the Ohio History Connection; Rita Fuller Yates, Columbus historian of the Columbus Landmarks Foundation; and Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), Associate Professor of Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University at Newark.

Exhibits

• Pokagon Potawatomi Black Ash Baskets: Our Storytellers.
  • Co-Curator Monisa Ahmen. Maran Gallery, The Field Museum to exhibit space on Columbus campus. Upcoming October 2022. 
• Return from Exile: the Mixed Blood of Gerry Lang Exhibit. Spring 2022. LeFevre Art Gallery. Spring 2022.
  • Return from Exile: the Mixed-Blood Art of Gerry Lang Exhibit PowerPoint, 2022. (PDF)
• Newark Earthworks Center Exhibit. LeFevre Art Gallery. Autumn 2021.
  • Newark Earthworks Center Exhibit PowerPoint, 2021. (PDF)
• Pokagon Potawatomi Black Ash Baskets: Our Storytellers.
  • Co-Curator Monisa Ahmen. Maran Gallery, The Field Museum. Opening April 2021 - September 2022. 
• Art and Artifact: Material Culture and Meaning Making | Bodéwadmi Wisgat Gokpenagen, The Black Ash Baskets of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.
  • Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise. Autumn 2020.
  • LeFevre Art Gallery. Autumn 2020.
    • Sponsored by grants from the Global Arts + Humanities/ Indigenous Arts and Humanities Initiative, the Program in American Indian Studies, the Milliken Fund at The Ohio State University at Newark, and the Newark Earthworks Center.
• The Art of Ngatu. Robin White and Ruha Fifita: Tradition, Innovation and Community in Polynesia. LeFevre Art Gallery. Autumn 2017.
  • Financial support provided by the Milliken Fund. Sponsored by: The Newark Earthworks Center, The American Indian Studies Program at The Ohio State University, The Office of Student Life at The Ohio State University at Newark, The Black Box Theater and the Ohio State Newark/Central Ohio Technical College Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council.
• My Dream Show Exhibit by Candi Wesaw [Pokagon Band of Potawatomi]. LeFevre Art Gallery. Autumn 2013.
  • This event is graciously sponsored by: The Newark Earthworks Center- The Ohio State University at Newark, The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indian Nation, The American Indian Studies Program at The Ohio State University, The Ohio History Connection [external link], The Cultural Arts and Events Committee- The Ohio State University at Newark.
• Keeper's of the Fire: The Pokagon Potawatomi Nation PowerPoint (PDF)
  • Join Exhibition of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indian Nation and the Museum at Southwestern Michigan College. June 21-Dec 29, 2006.

Awards

• 2016 American Society for Ethnohistory's Robert F. Heizer Award  for best article.
  • "Low Receives Robert F. Heizer Award." Ohio State Newark News. November 9, 2016.
• 2015-2016 COTC/Ohio State Newark President's and Dean/Director's Diversity Award