Dr. Renae Watchman Dearhouse is originally from Shiprock, New Mexico. She
earned her M.A. in German Studies from Arizona State University, and
completed her Ph.D. in the Department of German Studies, jointly with the
Graduate Program in Humanities from Stanford University. Her dissertation,"Fictionalizing the Indigenous in German Travel Literature," exposed how
German Others, namely explorers, narrated —and sometimes, fictionalized—the
stories, lives, and the environments of the Indigenous communities they
encountered.
Dr. Dearhouse's academic interests include American Indian/German relations,
(mis-) Representations of American Indians in German Literature and Culture,
German Travel Literature, Cultural Studies, 18th-19th Century literature,
and Native American Literature. She has also reversed the traditional lens
of ethnography, as an American Indian woman, and studied Germans as
Powwowthusiasts. She published an essay entitled "Powwow Overseas: The
German Experience," in the anthology: Powwow by the University of Nebraska
Press (2005). Dr. Dearhouse is also affiliate faculty in American Indian Studies.
The mutual friendship between "Germans" and "Indians" has been a life-long
journey, and has contributed to Dr. Dearhouse's research in a variety of
ways. In October 2004, she was invited by the Berlin-European Academy and
the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation to travel to Berlin to speak about the
Navajo Nation as part of a panel promoting awareness about Cultural
Minorities in both Europe and North America. In 2008, Dr. Dearhouse presented a paper entitled: "Circles of Friendship: Indigenous Hosts and European Travelers" at the University of Pardubice, Czech Republic, which was subsequently published in their departmental journal. For all her work, Dr. Dearhouse has been awarded the German American Friendship Award of the German Ambassador.
When she is not reading, writing and researching, you can find her enjoying her family, weaving, beading, sewing, baking, traveling, or chillin' at a Powwow.
Visit Dr. Dearhouse's personal homepage
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Last updated: 07/19/09