History, Tradition, Performance
- M Bruchac Home Page
- Biographical Info
- Academic Resume
- Publications
- Conference Papers
- Colloquia, Symposia
- Recent Performances
- Performance Venues
- Molly, Indian Doctress
- Teacher Workshops
- Books and Recordings
- Additional Photos
- Historical Sites
- Hand in Hand
- Hand in Hand Venues
- Kennick Woodcraft
- J Kennick Home Page
Biographical Info for Margaret M. Bruchac
Dr. Margaret (Marge) Bruchac, of Abenaki Indian descent, is a
scholar, performer, and historical consultant who specializes in
interpretations and representations of northeastern Native American Indian
peoples, from the colonial era to the present.
Museum Consulting: Dr. Bruchac has been a professional museum consultant since 1997. She has designed and presented performance programs, walking tours, teacher workshops, etc. for the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association and Historic Deerfield, and consulted on exhibitions for the Robert Abbe Museum, Peabody Museum at Phillips Academy, and Plimoth Plantation, among others. In 2001, her work as "Molly Geet, the Indian Doctress" at Old Sturbridge Village was profiled by “Yankee” magazine in the article: “I Still Live: the Survival of New England’s Native Tribes.”
Performance: Marge performs traditional and contemporary Abenaki songs, stories, and dances with “Hand in Hand,” “The Dawnland Singers,” and “The W’Abenaki Dancers.” Marge also offers solo lectures and performances for schools, museums, historical societies, folk festivals, etc., drawing from a repertoire that includes historical anecdotes, traditional stories, and original music. Bruchac has been a featured performer at the First Nations Festival, Keepers of the Word, Mashantucket Pequot Museum, Lake Champlain Festival, Missisquoi Abenaki Pow Wow, Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, Old Songs Festival, and hundreds of other venues, including two tours in the Netherlands and Germany.
Research & Teaching: Dr. Bruchac is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut, and Coordinator of Native American and Indigenous Studies at the UConn Avery Point campus. Her research and teaching interests include: Native American history and material culture; cultural property and repatriation; language and oral tradition; colonial encounters and transculturalism; cultural performance; Indigenous archaeologies; and museum anthropology. She has taught as Adjunct Faculty at Amherst College, Keene State College, the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Smith College, Tufts University, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Awards and Fellowships: The Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers has recognized Bruchac with several awards, including "Storyteller of the Year" for performance in 2000, and "Writer of the Year" for historical and academic writing in 2002 and 2004. She received two Graduate School Fellowships from the University of Massachusetts in 2002-2004. In 2004-2005, she was a Five College Fellow at Amherst College, and in 2006-2007, she was a Visiting Indigenous Fellow at Harvard University. In 2006, Marge's children's book, Malian's Song, won the American Folklore Society's "Aesop Award."
Museum Consulting: Dr. Bruchac has been a professional museum consultant since 1997. She has designed and presented performance programs, walking tours, teacher workshops, etc. for the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association and Historic Deerfield, and consulted on exhibitions for the Robert Abbe Museum, Peabody Museum at Phillips Academy, and Plimoth Plantation, among others. In 2001, her work as "Molly Geet, the Indian Doctress" at Old Sturbridge Village was profiled by “Yankee” magazine in the article: “I Still Live: the Survival of New England’s Native Tribes.”
Performance: Marge performs traditional and contemporary Abenaki songs, stories, and dances with “Hand in Hand,” “The Dawnland Singers,” and “The W’Abenaki Dancers.” Marge also offers solo lectures and performances for schools, museums, historical societies, folk festivals, etc., drawing from a repertoire that includes historical anecdotes, traditional stories, and original music. Bruchac has been a featured performer at the First Nations Festival, Keepers of the Word, Mashantucket Pequot Museum, Lake Champlain Festival, Missisquoi Abenaki Pow Wow, Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, Old Songs Festival, and hundreds of other venues, including two tours in the Netherlands and Germany.
Research & Teaching: Dr. Bruchac is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut, and Coordinator of Native American and Indigenous Studies at the UConn Avery Point campus. Her research and teaching interests include: Native American history and material culture; cultural property and repatriation; language and oral tradition; colonial encounters and transculturalism; cultural performance; Indigenous archaeologies; and museum anthropology. She has taught as Adjunct Faculty at Amherst College, Keene State College, the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Smith College, Tufts University, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Awards and Fellowships: The Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers has recognized Bruchac with several awards, including "Storyteller of the Year" for performance in 2000, and "Writer of the Year" for historical and academic writing in 2002 and 2004. She received two Graduate School Fellowships from the University of Massachusetts in 2002-2004. In 2004-2005, she was a Five College Fellow at Amherst College, and in 2006-2007, she was a Visiting Indigenous Fellow at Harvard University. In 2006, Marge's children's book, Malian's Song, won the American Folklore Society's "Aesop Award."
Community Service: Dr. Bruchac's volunteer museum service includes positions as an Advisor to the Wampanoag Indigenous Program at Plimoth Plantation (1998-2007), Trustee for Plimoth Plantation (2007-2010), Trustee for Fort Ticonderoga (2004-2007), and Trustee for Historic Northampton (1998-2009).
Professional Service: Bruchac was a member of the Five College Native American Indian Studies Curriculum Committee for 13 years (1995-2008). In 2003, she initiated the formation of the Five College Repatriation Committee, while serving as a Repatriation Research Liaison for Amherst College and Smith College. She is a member of the Indigenous Advisory Board for the World Archaeological Congress. In 2009, Dr. Bruchac was elected Secretary to the Council for Museum Anthropology, a section of the American Anthropological Association.
All text and photographs copyright 2008 by Margaret M. Bruchac and Justin H. Kennick. All rights reserved.
