Kirby Brown

Kirby Brown is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Director of Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Oregon. Enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation through his maternal grandfather, Brown combines academic rigor with community engagement.

• PhD, English (2012) – University of Texas at Austin
• MA, English (2005) – University of Texas at San Antonio
• BA, Biology (1998) – University of Texas at Austin

His research focuses on:

• Native American literary and cultural production (1900s–present)
• Indigenous critical theory and constitutional criticism
• Nationhood/nationalism and sovereignty/self-determination
• Modernist studies and genre theory
• Settler colonialism and decolonization
• Race, citizenship, and belonging

Recent publications include:

• Stoking the Fire: Nationhood in Cherokee Writing, 1907-1970 (2018) – examines Cherokee literary responses to statehood and tribal reorganization
• Co-editor, Routledge Handbook to North American Indigenous Modernisms (2022) – expands modernist studies through Indigenous frameworks
• Afterword for The Selected Works of Ora Eddleman Reed (2024) – contextualizes Cherokee literary activism

Awards include: Andrew W. Mellon Grant (2018), Thomas J. Lyons Award (2019), MLA Honorable Mention (2020), Ersted Distinguished Teaching Award (2023), and Modernist Studies Association Best Edition (2023).

As co-organizer of conferences like Alternative Sovereignties and curator of the Jim Thorpe Exhibit, Brown bridges academic and tribal communities. He also leads the Native American and Indigenous Studies Academic Residential Community and advises on multiple university committees.