Bathsheba R. Demuth

Bathsheba R. Demuth is the Dean’s Associate Professor of History and Environment and Society at Brown University, directing the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative. She holds affiliations with the Department of History and the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES). Her research focuses on Arctic environments, energy histories, and Indigenous knowledge systems, with expertise spanning Russia, Canada, and the United States.

Demuth earned a PhD in History from UC Berkeley (2016), and prior degrees from Brown University (BA 2006, MA 2007) and UC Berkeley (MA 2011). She has received prestigious awards including the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship and George Perkins Marsh Prize for her book Floating Coast.

Her research explores intersections of human and environmental histories through projects like her Carnegie-supported Yukon River watershed biography. Teaching interests include environmental humanities, energy history, and Arctic global history, with courses such as Anthropocene: Past and Present of Environmental Change and Sovereignty and Ecology: Law, Land, and Environmental Change.

Demuth’s funded research includes grants from IBES, the Cogut Institute, and the Mellon Foundation. She is a fellow of multiple professional societies including the American Society for Environmental History and American Historical Association.