Bio:

Robert Keith Collins, PhD, a four-field trained anthropologist, is Associate Professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University. He holds a BA in Anthropology, a BA in Native American Studies, and a minor in Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Collins also holds an MA and PhD in Anthropology from UCLA. Using a person-centered ethnographic approach, his research explores American Indian cultural changes, American Indians and museum anthropology, and African and Native American interactions in North, Central, and South America. His recent academic efforts include, but are not limited to, being a co-curator on the Smithsonian's traveling banner exhibit "IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas," an edited volume with Routledge (2023) on "Studying African-Native Americans: Problems, Perspectives, and Prospects," an edited volume with Cognella Press (2017) on "African and Native American Contact in the U.S.: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives", an edited volume for the American Indian Culture and Research Journal at UCLA (2013) on "Reducing Barriers to Native American Student Success."  

Betty Parent Achievement Award 

2024-2025

Deadline: 2/17/25 at 11:59p.m.

            When Dr. Betty Parent, PhD became the first full professor in American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University, she established a precedent of excellence in teaching, research, and community service that many American Indians seek to emulate. The Betty Parent Achievement Award was created in her name, and with her permission, to recognize Dr. Parent’s achievement and on-going inspiration.  The Award will honor outstanding students making similar strides in their academic progress and service to American Indian communities. 

             The Betty Parent Achievement Award seeks to assist outstanding undergraduate students financially with book purchase and/or course related material funds to continue their academic endeavors. This award is a maximum of $500.00 per year, and it is renewable annually through re-application. Receipts must be kept. In order to be eligible, SF State students must:

• Be currently enrolled as a full-time student at San Francisco State University.
• Be an American Indian Studies major, minor, graduate student with an American Indian Studies emphasis, or other major committed to working with and/or in an American Indian tribal community, nation, and/or organization.
• Maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher.

A complete application packet should consist of:

• A completed Betty Parent Achievement Award application (see link below).
• A copy of the student’s most recent transcripts.  Official and unofficial transcripts will be accepted.
• One letter of recommendation confirming the student’s intellectual and community engagement.

Applications can be obtained using the following Academic Works link: https://sfsu.academicworks.com/donors/bettyparent

For more information, please email Professor Collins at rkc@sfsu.edu. 

Previous Awardees!

2023-24 Ms. Malachi Perkins

2022-23 Dr. Jacob Adams, EdD

2022-23 Ms. Cathleen Manuel, MA

2016-17 Mr. Nureldin Maslu

2014-15 Ms. Amanda Jean Whitecrane

2014-15 Mr. Jesse Dumont

2013-14 Ms. Kim Ngoc Nguyen

2012-13 Mr. Edher Zamudio

2010-11 Mr. Leighton Felson

2010-11 Ms. Cassandra Freeman

Keynotes, Invited Lectures, and Seminars

"Furthering CHSS Shared Governance Culture" (An invited guest lecture given to (CHSS) at George Mason University, Fiarfax, Virginia. October 30, 2024.)

“Intersectionality and Ethnography” (An invited conference lecture given at the conference, “Rethinking Space,” Bard College, New York. October 13, 2023).

“Person-Centered Ethnography as Oral History Project Conceptualization: Indexing Inconsistencies Between Private Lived Realities and Public Racial Expectations” (A virtual roundtable given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August, 2023).

“Indigenous Economies and New World Culture Change” (An invited virtual keynote given at the 6^th Annual Search for Indigenous America Conference. 2023, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic. February 27-28, 2023).

“Using Person-Centered Ethnography in Oral History Project Conceptualization: Indexing the Inconsistencies Between Identification and Recognition” (A roundtable given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August 10, 2022).

“The Relevance of Juneteenth to African-Native Americans"(An invited lecture given at the inaugural CSU Juneteenth Symposium, Los Angeles, CA, June 16, 2022).

“Kinship and Slavery: Shared Kinship Systems of Enslaved Africans and Native Americans."(An invited lecture given at the Colloquium Americanum at the Institute for Ethnology at Goethe University at Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany, sponsored by the Institute for Ethnology, June 9, 2022).

“Using Person-Centered Ethnography in Oral History Project Conceptualization" (A roundtable given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August 11, 2021).

"Authors in Conversation: I've Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land by Alaina E. Roberts in Conversation with Professor Robert Keith Collins" (A discussion with Dr. Alaina E. Roberts (University of Pittsburgh) at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD): Smithsonian Affiliate. San Francisco, CA. May 11, 2021). 

"Afro-Native Identities" (A discussion with Unresevered. April 23, 2021).

“Person-Centered Ethnography and Oral History Project Conceptualization” (A roundtable given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August 11, 2020).

“Red and Black on Turtle Island: Community Dialogue on AfroNative Identities and Solidarities” (An invited guest lecture with Professor Emeritus Dr. John Brown Childs given virtually at U.C. Santa Cruz. April 29, 2020). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d52T58vMw-M.

“The Relevance of Person-Centered Ethnography to Oral History Project Conceptualization” (A roundtable given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August 6, 2019).

“Indigenous Economies and New World Culture Change” (An invited keynote given at the American Indian Workshops 2019, Poznan, Poland. July 10, 2019).

“Displaying Native American Cultural Impact in the U.S.: Cultural Diffusion in a Smithsonian Exhibit. A invited keynote lecture given at the, Frankfurt, Germany, sponsored by the Institute for Ethnology, June 18, 2019).

“Person-Centered Ethnography as Oral History Project Conceptualization” (A roundtable given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August 7, 2018).

"The Relevance of American Indians Studies to the African Diaspora," an invited Mellon Seminar at the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery of the Schomburg Center.  New York, NY. July 2, 2018). 

“Using Person-Centered Ethnography as Project Conceptualization Resource” (A roundtable given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August 16, 2017).

"American Indians Studies and Studying the African Diaspora," an invited Mellon Seminar at the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery of the Schomburg Center.  New York, NY. July 1, 2017). 

"Galvanized in Defense of Liberty: African Americans and Native Americans in World War I." (An invited lecture given at the History Museum of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa, CA. May 4, 2017).

“Person-Centered Ethnography as Oral History Project Conceptualization” (A roundtable given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August 16, 2016).

"Black Indians Lives of the Past and Present: A Dialogue." (A discussion with Dr. Tiya Miles (University of Michigan) at the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery of the Schomburg Center.  New York, NY. April 21, 2016).  (Note: Please click on the title to view the dialogue.)

“Memories of Enslaved American Indians: A Case Study of WPA Slave Narratives.” (An invited lecture given at San Diego State University, San Diego, California, sponsored by the departments of American Indian Studies and Africana Studies for Native American History Month, November 23, 2015).

“Displaying Native American Cultural Impact in the U.S.: Cultural Diffusion in a Smithsonian Exhibit. An invited lecture given at the Colloquium Americanum at the Institute for Ethnology at Goethe University at Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany, sponsored by the Institute for Ethnology, June 18, 2015).

“Person-Centered Ethnography: A Discussion of Anthropology to Oral History Project Conceptualization” (A roundtable given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August 11, 2015).

“The IndiVisible Legacy of Jack Forbes in Native American Studies: An Introduction.” (An invited keynote to introduce the hosting of “IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas” at the University of California, at Davis, Davis, California, sponsored by the departments of Native American and Indigenous Studies and African and African American Studies, November 14, 2014). 

“The Dynamics of African Cultural Change in Native America: Evidence of Transculturalization in a Smithsonian Exhibit.” (An invited lecture series given at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, sponsored by the departments of African American & Diasporic Studies and American Studies, October 1-3, 2014).

“Person-Centered Ethnography: A Discussion of Relevance to the Life Cycle of the Interview” (A workshop panel presentation given at the Advanced Oral History Institute, U.C. Berkeley. Berkeley, CA. August 2014).

“Displaying What Is a Black Indian: Evidence of Native American Transculturalization of Africans in a Smithsonian Exhibit” (A guest lecture given at the University of Graz, Austria sponsored by the Center for Inter-American Studies (C.IAS), University of Graz. Graz, Austria, May 28, 2014).

“Open Access Publications and Research In Relation to Native American/First Nations Studies.” (An NWO sponsored panel chaired at the American Indian Workshop at Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands, May 25, 2014).

Conference Panels and Paper Presentations

"Trancending the Shackles of Savagery and Servitude Through Sports: Hampton Institute Football Team of 1900." (A paper presented on the panel Sports and Residential/Boarding Schools (Chair: Janice Forsyth) at the American Indian Workshop. University of Pardubice, Pardubice, Czech Republic, April, 17, 2024).

“Unsettling Museum Exhibits: International Prospects for Paradigm Shifts in Native Community Collaborations.” (A panel co-chaired with Markus Lindner, PhD, Goethe University, Frankfurt, at the American Indian Workshop, University of Pardubice, Pardubice, Czech Republic, April, 17, 2024).

“Anti-Blackness and the Law in the Making of Jim Crow” (A panel chaired, at the Rights and Wrongs: A Constitution and Citizenship Day Conference at San Francisco State University, September 18-19, 2023.  

“Unsettling Museum Exhibits: International Prospects for Paradigm Shifts in Native Community Collaborations.” (A panel co-chaired with Alaka Wali, PhD, Curator Emeritus of North American Anthropology, Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois  at the American Anthropological Association Meeting, Seattle, Washington, November, 2022).

“Blood and Eugenics as Indian Removal: Perspectives on Current Problems in African-Native American Research”  (A roundtable chaired at the American Indian Workshop on “Norther Perspectives, Native Americans in World War II and Current Research at the University of Luxembourg, June 1-4, 2022.

“Native North Americans and Museums: International Perspectives and Collaborative Prospects” (A roundtable co-chaired with Markus Lindner, PhD, Goethe University, at the American Indian Workshop on “Norther Perspectives, Native Americans in World War II and Current Research at the University of Luxembourg, June 1-4, 2022.

“Native Americans and Museums: International Perspectives and Collaborative Prospects.” (A roundtable discussion chaired at the American Anthropological Association Meeting, Baltimore, MD, November 19, 2021).

“The Impact of American Indians on European Cultures: Evidence from the Anthropological Record” (A paper presented on a panel titled “From Homelands to Empires and Everywhere in Between: North American Indigenous Border Crossings, Cultural Exchanges, and Contemporary Considerations” at the conference “Indigenous Mobilities: Travelers through the Heart(s) of Empire,” Paris, France, June, 17, 2021).

“Native Americans and Museums: International Perspectives and Collaborative Prospects” (A roundtable chaired at the virtual conference of the American Indian Workshop on “Indigenous Shapes of Water & Current Research” at Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munchen, November 25, 2020).

“Changing Climate, Shifting Terrains: Indigenizing Museums” (A roundtable discussion at the American Anthropological Association Meeting, Vancouver, BC, November 21, 2019).

“Narratives of Valor: American Indians and World War I” (A paper presented on a panel entitled “Remebering the Past” at the American Indian Workshop at the University of Ghent, Belgium, April, 2018).

“Arrows of Racism: From Past to Present” (A panel chaired at the American Indian Workshop at the University of Ghent, Belgium, April, 2018).

“Displaying Collaboration: Reproducing the Anthropology of African and Native American Relations in a Smithsonian Exhibit.” (An invited paper presented on a panel titled “Legacies of Race and Space” at the American Anthropological Association Meeting, Washington, DC, November, 2017).

“Afro-Indigenous Relations Across the Americas, 1492-present.” (A panel chaired at the American Historical Association, Denver, CO, January, 2017). 

“Discovering WPA Slave Narratives as Evidence of Shared African and Native American Enslavement” (An invited paper presented on a panel titled “The Art of Identity: (Re) Constructing Blackness in Music, Film, TV, and the Internet” at the American Anthropological Association Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, December, 2016).

“Cherokee Humor and U.S. Common Sense: The Impact of Will Rogers.” (A paper presented on a panel entitled “Staging Humor” at the American Indian Workshop at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, May, 2016).

“Art and Humor” (A panel chaired at the American Indian Workshop at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, May, 2016).

“Native Knowledge and Self-Representation.” (A panel chaired at the American Indian Workshop at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, March, 2015).

“Motive, Native Knowledge, and African-Native American Self-Understanding: Life History Evidence from a Smithsonian Exhibit.” (A paper presented at the American Indian Workshop at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, March, 2015).

“Displaying Collaboration: Reproducing the Anthropology of African and Native American Relations in a Smithsonian Exhibit.” (An invited paper presented on a panel titled “Legacies of Race and Space” at the American Anthropological Association Meeting, Washington, DC, December 2014).

“Displaying Tranculturalization in the Americas” Inter-American Ethnographic Evidence From A Smithsonian Exhibit” (An invited paper presented at the International Association for Inter-American Studies Conference, Lima, Peru, August 2014).

“The Directive Force of Narrative in an Urban Garifuna Community: Ethno-linguistic Evidence from a Smithsonian Exhibit.” (A paper presented at the American Indian Workshop at Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands, May 2014).

Publications

Projects

Advancing and Expanding Ethnic Studies in the California State University (CSU), Project Manager (1.5 million for CSU team effort generously supported by the Mellon Foundation).

Advisory Committe, Native North American Hall. The Field Museum, Chicago, Il. 2018-2022 and 2022- present.

The Demography of African Slavery in Native America.  2020 - present.

Unsettling Anthropological Museum Exhibits: International and National Prospects for Paradigm Shifts in Native American Community Collaboration. 2018-present.

Studying African-Native American Contact in U.S. History: Challenges and Best Practices. 2006-present.

IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas : Current Smithsonian Traveling Banner Exhibit. 2009- 2016.

IndiVisible Exhibit Curatorial Advisory Team. National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian. Washington, DC. 2007-2016.

Understandings of Afro-Native Selves and Self-Determination (e.g., Garifuna and Muskogee Creek Association). Fieldwork in Southern California, 2008. Funded by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and National Museum of African American History and Culture and conducted for the creation of the Smithsonian’s traveling banner exhibit “Indivisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas”, this was a comparative study of how race, racism, and racial admixture affects individual and collective understandings of self in people of blended cultural and/or racial African and Native American ancestry.

Intracultural Variation and Choctaw Understandings of Self. Dissertation fieldwork in Southeastern Oklahoma and Northeastern Texas, 2000-2002. Comparative study of how race and racial admixture affect individual and collective Choctaw understandings of self.

Resisting Racial Identities: Black Choctaw Lived Experiences. Pre-Dissertation Research in Southeastern Oklahoma and Northeastern Texas, 1998-2000. Investigated the lived experiences of Choctaws of African American admixture through person-centered life history interviews.

Understanding Intra-racial and Intra-cultural Variation: Urban Black Choctaws. M.A. research in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA 1995-1997. Examined the lived experiences of Choctaws of African American admixture and how they cope with inconsistencies between what they represent to themselves and others.

Captions Study (2006-present)

Relevant Links and Resources

Accommodating Difference and Disabilities. An Introductory Packet by the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools.

Addressing Barriers to Learning: Closing the Gap in Policy and Practice. A Summit Report by the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools.

Building The Legacy of IDEAD 2004. (Video Clips)

Individuals With Disabilities Improvement Act of 2004.

Least Intervention Needed: Towards Appropriate Inclusion of Students with Special Needs: An Introductory Packet by the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools.

National Institute for Literacy. “Learning Disabilities Fact”.

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

Revisiting Learning Problems and Learning Disabilities. A Center Newsletter by the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools.

Surfing For Closed Captions Materials

Tool Kit on Teaching and Assessing Student With Disabilities

Using Federal Education Legislation in Moving Towards a Comprehensive, Multifaceted, and Integrated Approach to Addressing Barriers to Learning. An information resource by the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools.

A Sample of Relevant Publications

Howard Adelamn and Linda Taylor, The Implementation Guide to Student Supports in the Classroom and Schoolwide: New Directions for Addressing Barriers to Learning (Corwin Press, 2005). 

William Neil Bender, Differentiating Instruction for Student With Learning Disabilities: Best Teaching Practices for General and Special Educators (Corwin Press, 2008).

Frank G. Bowe, Universal Design in Education: Teaching Non-Traditional Students (Bergen and Garvey, 2000).

Council for Exceptional Children, Universal Design in Learning (Prentice Hall, 2005).

Stacey Pellechia Dean, Lesson Plan Book for the Diverse Classroom: Planning for Accessibility Through Universal Design For Learning (Dude Publishing/ National Professional Resources, 2007).

David H. Rose and Anne Meyer, Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (Association for Supervison & Curriculum Development, 2002). 

Grants

… And Captions for All: A Case Study of the Enabling Components of Subtitles. This  (Accessible Instructional Media) AIM – currently housed on the MERLOT website (see http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=547234) and funded by EnAct Sonoma, Merlot, and the Department of Education - demonstrates how closed captions are beneficial to all students, not just those who are hearing impaired. In addition to depicting the effective use of captions in the classroom, research was conducted on the impact of using captions with my students over the last two years. IRB Approved (Total Budget $3000.00).

… And Captions for All: The Relevance of Universal Design in Learning in All Higher Education Classrooms. This on-going study – fund by an EnAct Faculty Learning Community Grant - examines the use of captions as an effective tool for reducing barriers to learning in college classroom among officially and un-officially diagnosed student populations. 2006-present. IRB Approved (Total Budget $3000.00).

Study Abroad & Fulfill AIS Complimentary Studies!

American Indians Studies (AIS) majors, like all SF State Students, can study abroad and make degree progress while enjoying a cheaper cost of living and using financial aid! SF State has been very successful in helping students apply for scholarships, such as the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. The top program for American Indians at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany!

Studying American Indians abroad at Goethe University is highly recommended, as it is a prestigious university in Frankfurt, Germany. Goethe is ideal because of the unique American Indian course offerings that would fulfill complementary studies.  Furthermore, American Indian Studies majors can further their knowledge of the study of American Indians at Goethe University through an ethnological (comparative cultures approach) lens and under the guidance of Dr. Markus Lindner. Dr. Lindner is faculty in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology with expertise and research foci that include Native North America (Plains, particularly Lakota), contemporary situation, representation, material culture, historical photography, museum anthropology, tourism, contemporary native art, and repatriation.

The Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Goethe’s regional expertise is based on anthropological fieldwork mainaly in Africa, Central and South Asia (India), and the Americas. The empirical and comparative research particularly studies the close interconnections – but also the lines of demarcation – between religion, kinship, economy, politics and law, culinary culture, material culture and museums, and migration. Another field of research is the history of the discipline.

As a colleague of mine for over a decade, Dr. Lindner and I have collaborated on various conference panels and research projects that use ethnography to center American Indian narrative and voices in museum anthropology.

For more information, please contact Dr. Collins at rkc@sfsu.edu and visit SF State Study Abroad at studyabroad.sfsu.edu.