
"The people who built these mounds were brilliant. Their genius lies in combining complexity and simplicity simultaneously. Their mathematical and astronomical complexities challenge our mental capacity while simultaneously their simplistic structures evoke a calming, soothing and in some instances a spiritual effect. These people have for the most part been overlooked, unrecognized and unappreciated. Today we have an opportunity to change that and it is our responsibility to do so."
-Chief Glenna Wallace, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.

Stepping Out and Stepping Up: The Land-Grant Truth and Reconciliation Project
Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zone and Stepping Up to Our Responsibilities

The Stepping Out and Stepping Up Racial Justice Project has been the recipient of two awards in the month of December 2020.
First, our team was one of 10 awardees from the initial round of The Ohio State University’s Seed Fund for Racial Justice.
More information about this grant can be found here.
Principle Investigator: Stephen M. Gavazzi, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Community Partner: Michael Roberts, First Nations Development Institute [external link]
Co-Investigators:
Marti Chaatsmith, Newark Earthworks Center, (enrolled citizen of the Comanche Nation [external link], and direct descendant of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma [external link] );
Casey Hoy, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Entomology, InFACT;
John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi [external link] ), Comparative Studies, Newark Earthworks Center;
In partnership with First Nations Development Institute [external link], this team seeks to address the forced exile of Native Americans during the establishment of the State of Ohio and the dispossession of tribal lands by the U.S. government to fund the establishment of Ohio State.
Deliverables from this project will include:
Outcome 1: Leveraging First Nations Development Institute’s connections with Tribal Nations across the U.S. – who were removed from Ohio or whose land was granted to Ohio State – to facilitate new dialogue between Native peoples and representatives of our university.
Outcome 2: Developing an initial understanding of what specific reparative actions would most benefit the Native American communities impacted by this land dispossession and the process by which it could be jointly designed. Findings from this immediate deliverable will be reported in both scholarly publications and presentations at professional conferences, as well as a workbook for use by other land-grant universities in planning for their own reparation activities.
Outcome 3: Advancing a Land Acknowledgment statement that moves our university away from its current “past tense” and more sentimental recognition of transgressions and toward an indigenous relationship that reminds the Ohio State community about the pervasiveness of colonialism and the opportunity to foster a mindfulness of our present-day obligations, thus establishing a more genuine relationship upon which future interactions can be based.
Outcome 4: Formulating a demonstration/research project at Newark Earthworks regarding indigenous farming practices, with attention to how traditional practices may improve food sovereignty in Native American communities, and the incorporation of indigenous agricultural practices into a new College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Sustainable Agriculture major and modern agricultural practices.
Outcome 5: Recommending to Ohio State and the State of Ohio a reconciliation plan with both the people and process required for progress and plan elements that may include, for example: a) providing economic development and technical assistance to tribal families and communities; b) assisting with innovative strategies for land tenure and financing of Native American food system infrastructure; and c) designing a scholarship program for indigenous people whose families and tribal communities have been affected by university-related dispossession.
Press and Publications
- 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]
- "Dotting the "I" at The Ohio State University"
- First Nations Institute.
- Grappling with the Land Grant Truth | Inspire Podcast
- "How We Address Access, Equity and Inclusion with a Focus on Native Peoples." [external YouTube link]
- Presentation and moderation of discussion at the Western Region Joint Summer Meeting (virtual). Phillips, J., and Gavazzi, S. M. (2021).
- "InFACT and Partners to Pursue Racial Justice with First Nations Tribes" | Initiative for Food and Agricultural Transformation (InFACT). December 2020.
- "Intervention: Indigenous Studies Reflections on The Land-Grab Universities Project" Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal. Vol 8, No 1, Spring 2021. | Project Muse [external link]
- "Editors' Introduction: Reflections on the Land-Grab Universities Project." (pg. 89-91) K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Kelly Mcdonough, Jean M. O'Brien and Robert Warrior.
- "Morrill Issues and Academic Liberalism" (pg 92-96) David R. Roediger.
- "The Wealth of Knowledge: Land-Grab Universities in a British Imperial and Global Context." (pg 97-105) Caitlin P.A. Harvey.
- " "Drawing a Line from their Institution": One Origin Story of Indigenous GIS Design." (pg 106-111) Mark Palmer.
- " "Unrefutable Responsibility": Mapping the Seeds of Settler Futurity and Seeding the Maps of Indigenous Futurity." (pg 112-122) Marcel Brousseau.
- "Stolen Lands and Stolen Opportunities." (pg 123-128) Randall Akee.
- "Repaying a Debt? The Performance of Morrill Act University Beneficiaries as Measured by Native Enrollment and Graduation Rates." (pg 129-138) Donna Feir and Maggie E.C. Jones.
- "Myths, Erasure and Violence: The Immoral Triad of the Morrill Act." (pg 139-144) Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy and Amanda R. Tachine.
- " "We Grow the Ivy": Cornell's Claim to Indigenous Dispossession." (pg 145-150) Judy Kertész and Angela A. Gonzales.
- "Campuses, Colonialism and Land Grabs before Morrill" (pg151-156) Alyssa Mt. Pleasant and Stephen Kantrowitz.
- "Reckoning with the Original Sin of Land-Grant Universities: Remaining Land-Grant Fierce While Insisting on Contrition and Prepentance." (pg 157-161) Stephen M. Gavazzi.
- "The Future Is in the Past: How Land-Grab Universities Can Shape the Future of Higher Education." (pg 162-168) Theresa Stewart-Ambo.
- "The Future of Land-Grab Universities." (pg 169-175) Meredith McCoy, Roopika Risam and Jennifer Guiliano.
- "Looking Forward from Land-Grab Universities." (Pg 176-182) Tristan Ahtone and Robert Lee.
- "Land-Grab Universities: Owning the Truth and Sharing the Path to Make Amends" Webinar. [external YouTube link].
- Keynote address by Tristan Ahtone and Robert Lee, Co-authors of the Land-Grab Universities Report with High Country News. Sponsored in conjunction with the Humanities Collaboratory. October 6, 2021.
- “Let Us Tell the Story of Our Land and Place: Tribal Leader Interviews Concerning the Seizure and Sale of Territories Benefiting Land-Grant Universities." [external link]
- 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.
- "Paying Old Debts" [external link]
- 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.
- "Reckoning with the Original Sin of Land-Grant Universities: Remaining Land-Grant Fierce While Insisting on Contrition and Repentance."
- Gavazzi, S. M. (2021). Presentation at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Conference (virtual).
- Senator Morrill Act of 1862 | Newark Earthworks Center Blog
- "Stepping Out and Stepping Up Project Aims to Recognize Land-Grant Universities as Indigenous-Owned Land" [external link]
- Shree Luitel, The Lantern, Nov. 18, 2021.
- "Stepping Out and Stepping Up: Toward Truth and Reconciliation with Dispossessed Native American Tribes"
- Brian Snyder and Steven M., Gavazzi, Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT) newsletter ,The Ohio State University Discovery Themes, December 17, 2020.
- "Two Steps Land Grants Should Take to Fight Racial Injustice"
- Steven M. Gavazzi, Inside Higher Education, May 7, 2021.
- "Update on Racial Justice Project: Toward Truth and Reconciliation with Dispossessed Native American Tribes"
- May 20, 2021.
- "US Universities Ponder Massive Debt to Native Americans" [external link]
- Paul Basken, The Higher Education Times, October 19, 2021.
- What is a land-grant university? Who Knew? a video series by The Lantern. [YouTube external link] April 1, 2022.
"Toward Truth and Reconciliation: Present-Day Indigenous Peoples in Ohio"
Second, our team received a Collaborative Centers Grant from Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme. This second award was the result of an emerging partnership with The Ohio State University’s Humanities Institute.
The release of the Land-Grab Universities Report [external link] in March 2020 has been accompanied by mounting calls to bring justice in response to the harm visited upon Native Americans during the establishment of states and land-grant universities. In this project, the Newark Earthworks Center seeks to fund a post-doctoral position that would create dialogue both within the Ohio State community and among other land-grant institutions on the truth and reconciliation topics as they relate to Indigenous peoples. Submitted in partnership with the Humanities Institute, this effort is designed in part to help build reciprocity and redistribution methodologies and engage in other humanities-based scholarship surrounding tribal issues and land-grant universities.
Deliverables from this project will include:
Outcome 1: A web-based catalogue of Native American-serving agencies and organizations in Ohio, as well as a more refined understanding of the various constituencies served by these enterprises.
Outcome 2: The web-based presentation of the historical sweep of American Indians in Ohio, including the development of a narrative concerning their adaptation to geographical separation from their tribes and lack of recognition and support from the state of Ohio regarding their existence and needs.
Outcome 3: Creation of an exhibit – curated by Newark Earthworks Center Director John N. Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi [external link] ) – detailing the ancestral Native peoples of the region and the work of the Newark Earthworks Center that will be shown at the LeFevre Gallery on the Newark campus (to be shown virtually if future shutdowns due to Covid-19 are mandated).
Outcome 4: One keynote presentation and one panel discussion that will focus attention on the scholarly work that addresses past and present colonialism within and among land-grant universities. The presentation and panel discussions will be held live (virtually), will involve some of the most prominent voices in this area and will be recorded and placed on the Newark Earthworks Center's website.
Press
- Beyond a Land Acknowledgement: Recognizing Shortcomings, Mobilizing Possibilities Panel February 3, 2021. YouTube.
- Michael Charles (Diné | Navajo Nation [external link] ), Doctoral Candidate,
- Shannon Gonzales-Miller (Southern Ute- not enrolled), PhD,
- Melissa Jacob (Citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), PhD,
- Timothy San Pedro, PhD
- Deondre Smiles (Leach Lake Band, Ojibwe), PhD,
- "Roundtable One | On Indigenous Studies Webinar", March 11, 2022.
- Michael Charles (Diné | Navajo Nation [external link] ) | Postdoctoral Researcher, Newark Earthworks Center; Gregorio Gonzales | Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Comparative Studies; Moderator: Melissa Curley | Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Studies; Moderator: John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi) | Director of Newark Earthworks Center
- "Searching for Sustainable Solutions in the Face of Injustice" at Cop26 in Glasgow.
- Michael Charles (Diné | Navajo Nation [external link] ) , November 22, 2021.
- Newark Earthworks Center Exhibit at the LeFevre Art Gallery, Autumn 2021.
Land Acknowledgement

A land acknowledgment is a statement that runs counter to many historical narratives about the colonization and settling of North America, and it is intended to be provocative.
In some settings and circumstances, it is an act of resistance.
In others, it is a statement of support and, well, acknowledgment of the American Indian history of every single place in North America.
It is crucial for each statement to reflect the unique circumstances of each location and personal reflection of the speaker.
Monuments of the Scioto Valley
2022-2023 Arts, Technology and Social Change Grant Award Winner
GAHDT’s Arts Creation Grants advance the mission, goals and diversity of the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme by engaging artists and designers across the university in the creation of new, impactful, arts-led research and creative work.
These awards aim to seed cross-disciplinary and collaborative creative responses at the intersections of arts, technology and social change. Technological advances and their broad applications have had a profound impact on almost every aspect of human culture, including the arts. Increasingly, the tools that promise liberatory innovations, democratic access, connectivity and economic growth are the same ones that may serve to exclude, marginalize and reiterate structural inequities and asymmetric power relations.
This project aims to create a modular traveling exhibit on the Native American earthworks of central Ohio’s Scioto Valley by using contemporary technology to build awareness and scholarship around the region’s most important historical features.
Principal Investigators:
- John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), Associate Professor of Comparative Studies;
- Justin Parscher, Assistant Professor of Practice, Landscape Architecture;
- Jacob Boswell, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture;
- Beth Blostein Professor of Architecture; and
- Bart Overly, Lecturer of Architecture
Ancient Indigenous Monuments and Modern Indigenous Art
Our team received a Indigenous Arts and Humanities Research Grant from Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme. The Newark Earthworks Center (NEC) and the Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise will collaborate to bring American Indian artists, writers, scholars and activists for short residencies to explore the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks (HCE) of central Ohio and engage with students and faculty. Each five-day residency would include an inclusive and expansive tour of the HCE; two video interviews, one pre-and one post-HCE encounter; a public presentation; and a master class or other medium-appropriate masters experience.
Principal Investigators:
- Marti Chaatsmith (Comanche Nation citizen [external link], Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma descendant [external link] ), Newark Earthworks Center;
- Christine Ballengee-Morris, American Indian Studies, Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise
Indigenous Ohio: OSU and Native Arts and Humanities Past and Present
Our team received a Indigenous Arts and Humanities Research Grant from Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme. This interdisciplinary program conceived of by the members of our American Indian Studies program that asks regionally-focused questions about indigeneity across the Ohio region. Indigenous Ohio will foster interdisciplinary inquiry across The Ohio State University and broader Midwestern academic communities with questions impacting indigenous studies and practices in the arts and humanities; highlight the depth of North American indigenous studies at The Ohio State University; facilitate and encourage student involvement with indigenous North American arts and humanities; and explore a diverse range of ways that indigenous arts and humanities focused in the Ohio region can engage global issues.
Principle Investigators:
- Cheryl L. Cash (Choctaw/Cherokee), Comparative Studies;
- John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi [external link] ), Comparative Studies, Newark Earthworks Center;
- Daniel Rivers (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma [external link], descendant of the Chickasaw Nation), History;
- Stephen Gavazzi, Interim Director of CHRR, Department of Human Sciences
Collaborators:
- Matthew A. Anderson, Molecular Biology;
- Mark Bender, East Asian Languages and Literatures;
- Robert Cook, Anthropology;
- Shannon Gonzales-Miller (Ute descendant), Office of Diversity and Inclusion;
- Kenneth D. Madsen, Geography;
- Lucy Murphy, History;
- Elissa Washuta (Cowlitz Indian Tribe [external link] ) , English
Press
"Bodéwadmi Wisgat Gokpenagen | The Black Ash Baskets of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians" Exhibit at the LeFevre Art Gallery, Autumn 2019.
Dakota and Ojibwe Skies Virtual Discussion with Jim Rock (Dakota Nation)
March 9, 2021. This event is part of the Blowing off STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) informal community-based discussion series. Blowing off STEAM is a collaboration between The Ohio State University at Newark, Denison University, and the Granville Public Library. Also sponsored by the Newark Earthworks Center, the Department of Astronomy, and the Global Arts + Humanities/Indigenous Arts and Humanities Initiative.
Spotlight on Kewa Cartoonist Ricardo Caté (Santo Domingo/Kewa Pueblo [external link] )
September 8, 2021. This event is presented by the Traditional Indigenous Knowledges and the Stepping Out/ Stepping Up projects, The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, and the Newark Earthworks Center, and made possible by a grant from the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Themes at The Ohio State University and the Newark Earthworks Center.
Artist Talk with Elijah Forbes (Odawa), Two-Spirited Comic Artist and Community Organizer
November 18, 2021. Made possible by the Indigenous Art and Humanities Grant at The Ohio State University. Sponsored by The Ohio State University Newark Earthworks Center and The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, with the support of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee at The Ohio State University – Newark
"Potawatomi Removals: Forced and "Voluntary" "
George Godfrey (Citizen Band Potawatomi [external link] ), October 11, 2021. Sponsored in conjunction with the Humanities Institute.
Newark Earthworks Center Blog Post, NEC Indigenous Peoples' Day Blog Post
"Return from Exile: The Mixed-Blood Art of Gerry Lang" Exhibit at the LeFevre Art Gallery, Spring 2022. Gerry Lang (Chowanoke Indian Nation [external link])
Exhibits

Return from Exile: the Mixed-Blood Art of Gerry Lang
LeFevre Art Gallery, Ohio State Newark. Spring 2022.
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World Heritage Ohio
We are a Proud Steering Committee Member of World Heritage Ohio

Several sites in Ohio are poised to join the extremely prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List, with more than 1000 other properties around the globe, including the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Wall of China, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and Stonehenge. World Heritage inscription is based on stringent criteria [external link], and signifies outstanding universal value to humanity. Making the list helps ensure a site’s permanent preservation, enhanced understanding, deeper appreciation, and increased tourism.
Ohio and the U.S. Tentative List.
Three nominations in Ohio are among 20 currently on the “U.S. Tentative List” [external link] from which nominees will be drawn to go forward for inscription in the coming years. Efforts are now well underway to prepare our Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks [external link] to go forward; while Serpent Mound [external link] and the Dayton Aviation Sites [external link] will follow afterwards.
- How the nomination process works, [external link]
- Bringing enormous benefits to the U.S. and to Ohio, [external link]
- Get involved and support the effort [external link]
- Learn more about these amazing places, right here in our midwestern “back yard.”
The World Heritage Program
The World Heritage Program of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) [external link] was established to encourage the permanent protection of cultural and natural treasures around the globe. With inspiration from America’s National Park system, and leadership from the U.S. under the Nixon administration, an international treaty (called the Convention) was signed in 1972, with the U.S. as the first signatory. Today, 191 countries have ratified the Convention. The U.S. has 23 Inscribed Sites so far, ten of which are cultural. The entire worldwide list of around 1,000 properties can be explored on an interactive map [external link].
The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks.

The UNESCO World Heritage nomination of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks [external link] is actively in preparation by our collaborative, multi-institutional steering committee, and includes:
- Fort Ancient State Memorial, Warren County [external link]
- Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Ross County [external link]
- Hopewell Mound Group [external link]
- Mound City Group [external link]
- Hopeton Earthworks [external link]
- High Bank Works [external link]
- Seip Earthworks [external link]
- Hopewell Mound Group [external link]
- Newark Earthworks, Licking County [external link]
- Octagon State Memorial [external link]
- Great Circle Earthworks [external link]
- Wright Earthworks
Serpent Mound

Serpent Mound, probably built several hundred years after the Hopewell-era sites, is the largest documented surviving example of an ancient effigy mound in the world. It is part of the tradition of effigy building among some American Indian cultures in what is now the eastern United States, and is the greatest masterpiece of that tradition both here and elsewhere in the world. The sinuous, artistically-striking monumental sculpture is more than 1,200 feet long. It embodies fundamental spiritual and cosmological principles that still resonate with many Tribal Nations today, including astronomical alignments that mark the seasons.
How to Help Now.
Only 23 of the UNESCO World Heritage sites are located in the US, and none are in Ohio. But Ohioans are now working actively to advance the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks – currently on the U.S. “Tentative List” which means they are eligible – to become inscribed. We encourage you to visit these sites and the communities they’re located in so that you can tell your friends, your family and your elected leaders about the importance of these amazing places. Let them know you think these sites deserve to be the next U.S. nomination for World Heritage. Thank you!
The Newark Earthworks: Enduring Monuments, Contested Meanings

Considered a wonder of the ancient world, the Newark Earthworks—the gigantic geometrical mounds of earth built nearly two thousand years ago in the Ohio valley--have been a focal point for archaeologists and surveyors, researchers and scholars for almost two centuries. In their prime one of the premier pilgrimage destinations in North America, these monuments are believed to have been ceremonial centers used by ancestors of Native Americans, called the "Hopewell culture," as social gathering places, religious shrines, pilgrimage sites, and astronomical observatories. Yet much of this territory has been destroyed by the city of Newark, and the site currently "hosts" a private golf course, making it largely inaccessible to the public.
The first book-length volume devoted to the site, The Newark Earthworks reveals the magnitude and the geometric precision of what remains of the earthworks and the site’s undeniable importance to our history. Including contributions from archaeologists, historians, cultural geographers, and cartographers, as well as scholars in religious studies, legal studies, indigenous studies, and preservation studies, the book follows an interdisciplinary approach to shine light on the Newark Earthworks and argues compellingly for its designation as a World Heritage Site.
-University of Virginia Press. [external link]
We have been privileged to feature the following scholars in our book:
- Glenna Wallace, Chief, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma [external link].
- "Foreword"
- Lindsay Jones, Professor, Department of Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University.
- "Introduction: I Had No Idea! Competing Claims to Distinction at the Newark Earthworks"
- Richard D. Shiels, Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of History, and former Director, Newark Earthworks Center, The Ohio State University.
- "The Newark Earthworks Past and Present"
- Bradley T. Lepper, Curator of Archaeology, Ohio History Connection [external link].
- "The Newark Earthworks: A Monumental Engine of World Renewal"
- Ray Hively, Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy and Physics, Earlham College and Robert Horn, Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Earlham College
- "The Newark Earthworks: A Grand Unification of Earth, Sky and Mind"
- Helaine Silverman, Professor, Department of Anthropology, and Director, Collaborative for Cultural Heritage Management and Policy, University of Illinois
- "An Andeanist's Perspective on the Newark Earthworks"
- Stephen H. Lekson, Curator of Archaeology, Museum of Natural History, and Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder
- "Hopewell and Chaco: The Consequences of Rituality"
- Timothy Darvill, Professor of Archaeology, and Director, Center for Archaeology and Anthropology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Dorset, United Kingdom
- "Beyond Newark: Prehistoric Ceremonial Centers and Their Cosmologies"
- John E. Hancock, Professor Emeritus, School of Architecture and Interior Design, and former Director, Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of Historical and Archaeological Sites (CERHAS), University of Cincinnati [external link].
- "The Newark Earthworks as "Works" of Architecture"
- Thomas Barrie, Professor, School of Architecture, North Carolina State University
- "The Newark Earthworks as a Liminal Place: A Comparative Analysis of Hopewell-Period Burial Rituals and Mounds with a Particular Emphasis on House Symbolism"
- Margaret Wickens Pearce, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Kansas; [Citizen Potawatomi [external link] ].
- "The Cartographic Legacy of the Newark Earthworks"
- Thomas S. Bremer, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Rhodes College
- "The Modern Religiosity of the Newark Earthworks
- Marti L. Chaatsmith, Associate Director of the Newark Earthworks Center, The Ohio State University; (Comanche Nation/Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Descendant [external link] ).
- "Native (Re)Investments in Ohio: Evictions, Earthworks Preservation, and Tribal Stewardship"
- Mary N. MacDonald, Professor Emerita, Department of Religious Studies, Le Moyne College
- "Whose Earthworks? Newark and Indigenous People"
- Duane Champagne, Professor, Department of Sociology, American Indian Studies Program, and School of Law, University of California, Los Angeles; (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa [external link] ) and Carole Goldberg, Jonathan D. Varat Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Los Angeles.
- "The Peoples Belong to the Land: Contemporary Stewards for the Newark Earthworks
- Greg Johnson, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder
- "Caring for Depressed Cultural Sites, Hawaiian Style"
- Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Indiana University
- "Imagining "Law-Stuff" at the Newark Earthworks"
The Ancient Ohio Trail

Immerse yourself in the heartland of ancient America, where spectacular cultures created the largest concentration of geometric earthen architecture in the world.
Explore their vast and precise enclosures, effigies, embankments and walled hilltops. See their dazzling art works preserved in area museums.
A complete travel experience awaits you along the Ancient Ohio Trail.
Discover why OHIO was the cultural epicenter of North America two thousand years ago!
Publications and Presentations
[external links]
- American Indian Studies at The Ohio State University | Knowledge Bank
- The Atlas Obscura Podcast | "Newark Earthworks," June 3, 2021.
- "A basis for bordering: land, migration and inter-Tohono O’odham distinction along the U.S.-Mexico Line," in Jones, R. and Johnson, C. (Eds) Placing the Border in Everyday Life. London: Ashgate, pp. 93-116. [external link]
- Madsen Kenneth. D. 2014. If you are interested in obtaining digital or print copies of this publication, please email Dr. Ken Madsen.
- "Beyond Squier and Davis: Rediscovering Ohio's Earthworks Using Geophysical Remote Sensing"
- Jarrod Burks and Robert A. Cook, American Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, Vol 76, Issue 4, October 2011, Page 667-689.
- Blood Narrative | Indigenous Identity in American Indian and Maori Literary and Activist Texts
- Dr. Chadwick Allen (Chickasaw ancestry).
- Blue Indians: teaching the political geography of imperialism with fictional film. Journal of Geography. 113 (2): 47-57. [external link DOI]
- Madsen, Kenneth D. 2014. If you are interested in obtaining digital or print copies of this publication, please email Dr. Ken Madsen.
- The C.A. and P.A. Buser Collection
- 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]
- "Contemporary American Indian Arts: Including Earthworks" Video Lecture by Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris, 2015.
- "Contextualizing cultural landscapes and political geography with montage. you are here." XXVI: 42-45. [external link]
- Madsen, Kenneth D. 2014. If you are interested in obtaining digital or print copies of this publication, please email Dr. Ken Madsen.
- Continuity and Change in the Native American Village | Multicultural Origins and Descendants of the Fort Ancient Culture
- Dr. Robert Cook. Cambridge University Press. 2017.
- "The Crossroads of Indigenous America" Video with Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi) in The Indigenous Tour of Northwestern University.
- Digital Dialogue Four | Earthworks Rising: Native Art and Literature Dr. Chadwick Allen, Ohio State Global Arts and Humanities. [YouTube link] February 2, 2022.
- "Earthworks: Rise and Tell" by Marti Chaatsmith (Comanche Nation/Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Descendant) and Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris in the Fifth Session: Through Space and Time on April 12, 2018 at "Metaphors of Time: An Interdisciplinary Conversation Across the Arts, Humanities and Sciences," April 11-12, 2018. Paper in publication.
- Sponsored by The Ohio State University Office of Research, Jewish Studies at Fordham University, The Thomas and Diann Mann Distinguished Symposium Fund, The Melton Center for Jewish Studies at Ohio State, The Departments of NELC and Philosophy at The Ohio State University.
- Earthworks Rising
- The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma: Resilience through Adversity
- edited by Stephen Warren, The University of Oklahoma Press, 2017.
- ProQuest Online Copy [OSU Login required.]
- 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.
- Speakers Jeff Sharp, Nicole Jackson, Ziigwanikwe (Katy Bresette), Gidigaa bizhiw (Jerry Jondreau), Sara Smith, Rob Croll, Kristen Schmitt, and John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi). January 12, 2021.
- Resource List [PDF]
- Dibaginjigaadeg Anishinaabe Ezhitwaad, a tribal climate adaptation menu.
- Frenchtown Chronicles of Prairie Du Chien
- Mary Elise Antoine and Lucy Eldersveld Murphy. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. 2016.
- A Gathering of Rivers: Indians, Metis and Mining in the Western Great Lakes, 1737-1832
- Dr. Lucy E. Murphy. University of Nebraska Press. June 2004.
- Great Lakes Creoles: A French-Indian Community on the Northern Borderlands, Prairie du Chien, 1750-1860
- Dr. Rebecca Kugel and Dr. Lucy E. Murphy. Cambridge University Press. 2014.
- Harvard Peabody Museum Collections
- Dr. Robert Cook, "Ohio archaeological collections, which are currently being cataloged to support the work of visiting researcher and professor Dr. Robert Cook of The Ohio State University."
- Historic Costume and Textiles Collection
- Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago
- Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi). Michigan State University Press. 2016.
- Indians and Mestizos in the “Lettered City”: Reshaping Justice, Social Hierarchy, and Political Culture in Colonial Peru
- Dr. Alcira Dueñas.
- "Indigenous research, publishing and intellectual property." American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 32 (3): 89-105. [external link]
- Madsen, Kenneth D. 2008. If you are interested in obtaining digital or print copies of this publication, please email Dr. Ken Madsen.
- "Intervention: Indigenous Studies Reflections on The Land-Grab Universities Project" Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal. Vol 8, No 1, Spring 2021. | JSTOR
- "Investigating the Placement of Hopewell Earthworks: A GIS Spatial Analysis of Ross County, Ohio" | Knowledge Bank
- 2014, Timothy Everhart, The Ohio State University.
- "John Low on understanding the importance of the Newark Earthworks" Voices of Excellence from Arts and Sciences Podcast, August 2021.
- "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.
- “Let Us Tell the Story of Our Land and Place: Tribal Leader Interviews Concerning the Seizure and Sale of Territories Benefiting Land-Grant Universities." [external link]
- 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.
- The Mayan Cultures Archive | Home of the Mayan Studies Journal
- "Migration, identity and belonging." Journal of Borderlands Studies. 18 (1): 61-75. [external link DOI]
- Madsen, Kenneth D. and Ton van Naerssen. 2003. If you are interested in obtaining digital or print copies of this publication, please email Dr. Ken Madsen.
- A Nation Across Nations: The Tohono O’odham and the U.S.-Mexico Border. PhD. Dissertation, Arizona State University. [external link]
- Madsen, Kenneth D. 2005. If you are interested in obtaining digital or print copies of this publication, please email Dr. Ken Madsen.
- Native Women’s History in Eastern North America before 1900: A Guide to Research and Writing
- Dr. Rebecca Kugel and Dr. Lucy E. Murphy.
- The Newark Earthworks | Enduring Monuments, Contested Meanings
- Dr. Lindsay Jones and Dr. Richard Shiels.
- Ohio Native Heritage Archive
- "One site, many interpretations: managing heritage at an ancient American site," Museum and Place. Paris: ICOFOM (International Committee for Museology), pp. 138-161. [external link]
- Weiser, Elizabeth; Low, John; Madsen, Kenneth. 2019. Smeds, K. and Davis, A. (Eds.) If you are interested in obtaining digital or print copies of this publication, please email Dr. Ken Madsen.
- "Paying Old Debts" [external link] 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.
- "Pokégnek Bodéwadmik The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Survival and Revival through Storytelling" Video Lecture by Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), 2015.
- Pokégnek Bodéwadmik | The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians | Keeper’s of the Fire
- Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi).
- 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"
- Dr. John Low, Pokegnek Yathdanawa issuu, June 2021, Page 5.
- "Pokagon Potawatomi Basket Making--Recollecting Nationhood"
- Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi).
- Pokagon Black Ash Baskets | The Field Museum
- Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi) and Monisa Ahmed, May 26, 2021.
- "Proposal to Create the Newark Earthworks Center" | Knowledge Bank
- 2006, Newark Earthworks Center, The Ohio State University.
- "Reckoning with the Original Sin of Land-Grant Universities: Remaining Land-Grant Fierce While Insisting on Contrition and Repentance." (pg. 157-161) Stephen M. Gavazzi.
- "Selma Sully Walker and Native Women's Leadership in Ohio, 1975-2011,"
- edited by Lucy Eldersveld Murphy, Women and Social Movements, Modern Empires Since 1820, Alexander Street.
- "Singing at a Center of the Indian World: The SAI and Ohio Earthworks"
- Marti Chaatsmith (Comanche Nation/Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Descendant).
- "Stepping Out and Stepping Up: Toward Truth and Reconciliation with Dispossessed Native American Tribes"
- Brian Snyder and Steven M., Gavazzi, Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT) newsletter, The Ohio State University Discovery Themes, December 17, 2020.
- Sunwatch: Fort Ancient Development in the Mississippian World
- Dr. Robert Cook. The University of Alabama Press. 2007.
- "They Came, They Claimed, They Named, and We Blame: Art Education in Negotiation and Conflict." [external link, OSU login required].
- Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris. Studies in Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research. Vol. 51, Issue 3. 2010. pg 275-287.
- Transforming our practices: indigenous art, pedagogies and philosophies
- edited by Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris and Dr. Kryssi Staikidis. National Art Education Association. 2017. [OSU Library copy link]
- Trans-Indigenous | Methodologies for Global Native Literary Studies
- Dr. Chadwick Allen (Chickasaw ancestry).
- "Tribal Participation in the Preservation of the Newark Earthworks" Video Lecture by Marti Chaatsmith (Comanche Nation/Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Descendant), 2015.
- "Two Steps Land Grants Should Take to Fight Racial Injustice"
- Steven M. Gavazzi, Inside Higher Education, May 7, 2021.
- "Update on Racial Justice Project: Toward Truth and Reconciliation with Dispossessed Native American Tribes"
- May 20, 2021.
- Virtual World Heritage Ohio
- Newark Earthworks GIS Web Map
- Office of Digital Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, Ball State's Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts (IDIA Lab), Applied Anthropology Laboratories (AAL), The Works, Ohio History Connection, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and the Shawnee Tribe.
- "Water/Earth/Sky Journeys: Overcoming Serial Nomination Challenges with a Themed Landscape Approach"
- Jennifer Aultman, Marti Chaatsmith (Comanche Nation/Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Descendant), Elizabeth Bartley.
- What is a land-grant university? Who Knew? a video series by The Lantern. [YouTube link] April 1, 2022.
- "Women's Leadership through the Women's Basket Cooperative in Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, 1983-2000"
- Dr. John Low (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi).
- "WOSU Preserving American Indian Culture." Radio Show Recording.
- September 29, 2016. All Sides with Ann Fisher with guests President Kerry Holton of the Delaware Nation, Daryl Balwin Director of the Myaamia Center at Miami University, and Marti Chaatsmith (Comanche Nation/Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Descendant) Interim Director of the Newark Earthworks Center.
- "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.
Ohio Native Heritage Archive

The recorded interviews are stored in the Ohio State Newark library's Ohio Native Heritage Archive and are available for use by the public by appointment.
ACCESS INFORMATION:
- Hours of operation are by appointment.
- Photocopying is available.
- Reference assistance is available.
Selected ONHA Resources
From 2004 to 2009, "Discovering the Stories of Native Ohio" connected our teaching with community outreach and research. Linked to seven courses, this endeavor trained students in both interview methods and American Indian history and culture. Students, staff, volunteers and faculty interviewed 115 people at Ohio State, in their homes or workplaces, at three powwows sponsored by the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio, and at the American Indian Education Center of Cleveland. We also collaborated with other Native American organizations. This provided an opportunity for students to meet and talk with Native people and to build an archive about the personal experiences and stories of contemporary American Indians.
The Charles and Patricia Buser Collection

Overview of the Collection:
Repository: Rare Books and Manuscripts Library
Identification: Spec.rare.cms.319
Creators: Charles and Patricia Buser
Title: The Charles and Patricia Buser Collection of Research Materials on Native American Cultures
Dates: 1700s (in photocopies) through 2005
Quantity: 13 boxes
Description: The collection includes audiotapes, transcriptions, notes and research on the Wyandot language. In addition, there are many articles, as well as complete newsletters or other publications related to their study of the Wyandot tribe and other Native Americans. There is a significant amount of correspondence, both professional and personal, and a number of photographs.
Collected External Resources

Including Blogs, Centers, Committees, Institutes, Societies, Historical Sources, Midwest American Indian and Earthworks Videos, Informative Links, Museums and Historic Sites, News Sites, and Online Exhibits.