Interview | Dr. Tim Garrison

Written by Lily Hart on August 17, 2018

In this episode, we interview Dr. Tim Garrison, who is the Department Chair of the History Department at Portland State University. He received his PhD at the University of Kentucky. He studies the history of the Native American south, American Indian legal history, and the history of the removal crisis.

We discussed a recent article Dr. Garrison is working on, which is on Native Americans and tornados; his past role as lawyer and how that plays into being a historian; his role as department chair; and the change in the field of Native American history. The field of ethnohistory and its use plays into his article and is discussed in this podcast.
For more information about ethnohistory read:
Axtell, James. “Ethnohistory: An Historian’s Viewpoint.” Ethnohistory 26, no. 1 (1979): 1-13. doi:10.2307/481465. (article referenced in the podcast)
We also discussed Dr. Garrison’s upcoming book, with focuses on the Cherokees, decision making, and Indian removal. The working title is Sunset in the East: Reconsidering the Trail of Tears (published by Louisiana State Press).
Selected works:
The Legal Ideology of Removal: The Southern Judiciary and the Sovereignty of Native American Nations. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2002. Paperback edition, 2009.
The Native South: New Histories and Enduring Legacies. Editor, with Greg O’Brien.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2017.
“Our Cause Will Ultimately Triumph”: Profiles in American Indian Sovereignty. Editor. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2014.