John Truden

Background

About John Truden

John Truden earned his PhD in US History from the University of Oklahoma in May 2023. He is currently a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Native American and Indigenous Studies at Dickinson College, a small liberal arts college in central Pennsylvania. His first book - currently undergoing peer review with the University of Nebraska Press - is "Indian Territory’s Legacy: Indigenous-Settler Partnerships and Persistence in Oklahoma, 1875-2020." He is currently at work on a second book, which will examine political and cultural change in Native America during the 1970s. John Truden has published in both academic journals - notably the Western Historical Quarterly - and in more accessible forums such as Oklahoma Humanities magazine and the Osage News. He has worked on extensive projects with the Absentee Shawnee Tribe Cultural Preservation Office, the Seminole Nation Historic Preservation Office, and most recently with Greetham Law, the Chickasaw Nation's principal legal counsel. As part of his role at Dickinson College's Center for the Futures of Native Peoples, John Truden created and coordinates the Indigenous Consortium, a campus wide (and beyond) monthly discussion group for faculty interested in Indigenous issues. He also assembled a 100-text boarding and residential school reference collection for the college's budding NAIS program, community members, and tribal delegations repatriating their children from the nearby Carlisle Indian Industrial School cemetery. Outside of academia, John Truden and his partner Emily enjoy traveling, trying new foods, reading together, and playing with their dog Ruffles.