Rachel C. Jackson

Rachel C. Jackson (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) serves as Assistant Professor of Native American Literatures and Rhetorics in the Department of English at the University of Oklahoma, where her work bridges Native American Literatures & Cultural Studies and Rhetoric and Writing Studies programs. Her research examines activist rhetorical strategies within historical suppression contexts, focusing on transrhetorical approaches to build decolonial futures through collective action.

Her educational background includes:

• Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma

Professor Jackson's research centers on Native American and Indigenous Studies, Critical Race Theory, and Decolonial Theory, with specialized focus on Indigenous language revitalization, land-based pedagogies, and transrhetorical analysis. She develops community-engaged projects that sustain cultural literacies through digital storytelling and language preservation initiatives, emphasizing Cherokee and Kiowa knowledge systems. Her methodology prioritizes community listening and transrhetorical resistance as tools for cultural sovereignty.

Her publication trajectory reveals consistent exploration of decolonial frameworks across Indigenous land contexts, with increasing emphasis on language revitalization and digital archives. Recent works examine rivers as political spaces, song as resistance, and the triangulation of race in settler colonialism, appearing in top-tier journals like Rhetoric Review and College Composition and Communication.

Her distinguished honors include:

• Ford Foundation Fellow (2015)
• Newberry Consortium on American Indian Studies Fellow (2016)
• NCTE Berlin Award and Ohmann Award (2017)
• National Consortium on Environmental Rhetorics and Writing Fellow (2018-present)
• Parlor Press Best of Composition and Rhetoric Award (2019)

Through tribal partnerships across Oklahoma, Jackson develops community-driven initiatives including public digital storytelling workshops, the Kiowa Clemente Course in the Humanities, and collaborative curriculum development. Her grant-funded work manifests primarily through community co-creation rather than traditional academic funding structures, emphasizing reciprocal knowledge exchange with tribal nations.

She directs two major digital initiatives: kiowatalk.org, a community-curated Kiowa language and culture archive, and decolonialdirections.org, which documents land-based community engagement practices. These platforms serve as living repositories for Indigenous storytelling practices and decolonial methodologies developed through sustained tribal collaboration.