Position Title
Ph.D. Candidate
Education
- B.A.University of Nebraska-Omaha
- M.A.University of Nebraska-Omaha
About
Brianna Tafolla Riviere is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of California Davis with a Designated Emphasis in Native American Studies. She specializes in the histories of Indigenous Peoples in the twentieth century United States. Her dissertation entitled is "Reel Red Power: Indigenous Activism, Visual Sovereignty, and the Film Industry" looks at the how the Red Power movement impacted Hollywood in the 1960s and 1970s. Her interdisciplinary approach brings in concepts of Indigenous futurism to tell a story about how Native activism adapted in the era of mass media. She is also currently the Chair of the Western History Association Graduate Caucus.
Research Focus
Twentieth Century North American Indigenous history; the Red Power movement and Native nationalism in the Twentieth Century; The North American West; Indigenous popular culture; Native American Studies methods and theory; United States film history and popular culture; Indigenous performance and visual sovereignty; Activism and resistance histories; Race and Ethnicity; Public history; Twentieth century political activism and social movements histories.
Teaching
HIS 17B- United History from 1865
HIS 17A- United History to 1865
HIS 72B - American Women and Gender, 1865 to the Present
Selected Fellowships and Awards
2023- The Walter McClintock Memorial Fellowship, Yale University
2022-Graduate Student of Color Summer Research Award, UC Davis
2022-2023 - The Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Educational Foundation Dissertation Writing Fellowship, UC Davis
2021 - The Mellon Public Scholar Fellowship, UC Davis
Selected Internships
2022- Graduate Student Researcher for Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, UC Davis
2021- Intern for the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust Rematriation Organization, San Francisco, CA
2021- Graduate Intern for Tribal Affairs Division, California State Parks, Sacramento, CA
2016- Cultural Resource Graduate Intern for the National Park Service Midwest Region Headquarters, Omaha, NE