Dr. Ashley Riley Sousa
Professor of History, Director of Graduate Studies, History
Departments / Programs
Degree Information
- PHD, Yale University (2013)
- MPHI, Yale University (2004)
- MA, Yale University (2003)
- BA, University of California, Davis (1997)
Biography
Dr. Sousa was born and raised in California and has a deep emotional and intellectual attachment to its histories and peoples. Her previous research explores the Native communities and economic networks that made possible the Spanish, Mexican, and American exploration and colonization of California's Central Valley and Delta. She is most interested in the ways Native people and newcomers have coexisted and cooperated and the persistence of Native economic, political, and cultural structures a...
Read More »Dr. Sousa was born and raised in California and has a deep emotional and intellectual attachment to its histories and peoples. Her previous research explores the Native communities and economic networks that made possible the Spanish, Mexican, and American exploration and colonization of California's Central Valley and Delta. She is most interested in the ways Native people and newcomers have coexisted and cooperated and the persistence of Native economic, political, and cultural structures and traditions in colonial settings. Her current research explores the enduring fascination with and cultural impact of the Black Dahlia murder. When she is not in the classroom or at her computer, she enjoys CrossFit, British crime dramas, and Diet Coke.
Selected Publications
"Unsifted: Hawaiian Indian Coalescence in Central California." Forthcoming, Violence and Indigenous Communities: Confronting the Past, Engaging the Present. Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 2021.
"Trapped?: The Fur Trade and Debt Peonage in Central California." Forthcoming, Pacific Historical Review 90, no. 1 (2021).
"'An Influential Squaw': Intermarriage and Community in Central California, 1839-1851." Ethnohistory 62, no. 4 (2015): 707-727.
"'They Will Be Hunted Down Like Wild Beasts and Destroyed!': A Comparative Study of Genocide in California and Tasmania." Journal of Genocide Research 6, no. 2 (2004): 193-209.
Selected Awards
Phillips Fund for Native American Research Grant, American Philosophical Society, 2008
Huntington Fellowship, Huntington Library, 2005
Beinecke Summer Fellowship, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 2004
Undergraduate Courses Taught
History 2010: History of the United States to 1877
History 4690: Native American History
History 4140: The United States West
History 3020: North American Borderlands
History 3020: Race and Gender in the American West
Graduate Courses Taught
History 6104/7104: Readings in Native American History
History 6104/7104: The Pacific World
History 6104/7104: The History of Murder in America
History 6101: Early America
History 6010: Historiography
