معرفی
Michael Taylor is a faculty member in the Department of English at Utah State University, within the College of Humanities. He is a co-editor and major contributor to the significant scholarly-creative volume Returning Home: Diné Creative Works from the Intermountain Indian School (University of Arizona Press, 2021), a project that centers on the creative resilience of Navajo students at a federal Indian boarding school.
His research focuses on Native American literature, Indigenous cultural resilience, creative writing in colonial contexts, and community-engaged archival recovery. Taylor's work emphasizes collaborative scholarship with Diné communities, aiming to recontextualize and return student voices through poetry, art, and storytelling. His scholarship bridges literary analysis, historical recovery, and decolonial ethics.
The publication Returning Home features student poetry, artwork, and narratives from the Intermountain Indian School, reflecting themes of homesickness, cultural identity, resistance, and hope. Taylor's chapter, "'Writing in Beauty': A History of Intermountain’s Language Arts Program," highlights how creative writing programs nurtured student expression despite assimilationist agendas.
Taylor’s work exemplifies restorative justice in scholarship, centering Indigenous voices and rejecting reductive victim narratives. The project involved collaboration with survivors, community members, and institutions, and was shared via a traveling museum exhibit.
Scientific Awards:
- No awards mentioned in the text.
Advising and Grants:
While no formal students or grants are listed, Taylor’s leadership in a major collaborative research project involving community partnerships, archival work, and public humanities suggests extensive mentorship and research coordination. The project required funding, institutional support, and student researchers, though specific details are not provided.
Labs, Teams, and Research Groups:
Michael Taylor co-led a multidisciplinary team with Farina Noelani King and James R. Swensen, working closely with Diné communities, surviving students, and educators. The project functioned as a community-based research collective focused on cultural reclamation and educational justice.
