Breadcrumb
Thomas Buckley Papers Curriculum Vitae
Thomas Buckley, Ph.D.
2010
- 1982 Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, The University of Chicago. Dissertation: "Yurok realities in the 19th and 20th Centuries." Committee: Raymond D. Fogelson (Chair), Paul Friedrich, Michael Silverstein, Anne S. Straus. Funding: Fellowship, Danforth Foundation; grants-in-aid, Whatcom Museum Foundation.
- 1977 A.M., Department of Anthropology, The University of Chicago. Thesis: Structure and meaning in Yurok world view.
- 1975 A.B., Harvard University. Major: Fine Arts, specialization in Asian art history.
Academic and Administrative Positions Held
- 2003-pres. Principle Consultant, Pole Star Cultural Services
- 2003 Adjunct Lecturer in Religion, Bowdoin College
- 2001 Early retirement, University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB)
- 1997 Graduate Director, American Studies Program, UMB
- 1995-2001 Associate Professor, Anthropology and American Studies, UMB
- 1993 Visiting instructor, Boston University Medical School (psychiatry)
- 1992-95 Chair, Department of Anthropology, UMB
- 1991 Visiting instructor, Native American Studies, Humboldt State University
- 1988-2001 Associate Professor with tenure, Department of Anthropology, UMB
- 1986-88 Director, Linguistics Program, UMB
- 1985 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies and the Residential College, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
- 1982-88 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, UMB
- 1980-82 Instructor, Department of Anthropology, UMB
- 1979-80 Lecturer in Technical Writing, Department of English, The Pennsylvania State University
- 1978 Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology, The University of Chicago
Field Research
- 1976 Archaeological reconnaisance, Anasazi sites, Utah. Participant observation, Native American Church, New Mexico
- 1976-2003 Long term intermittent ethnographic and linguistic field work, Yurok Indians, northwestern California:
- 1976, language, narrative, politics, men's esoteric training;
- 1978, above, plus women's personal ritual practices, curative practices;
- 1981-84, death and dying, inheritance;
- 1988-89, narrative, world renewal;
- 1990-91, plus curing;
- 1991, politics, world renewal;
- 1994, conflict and resolution;
- 2000, effects of federal acknowledgement and casino development;
- 2003, Christian churches in native NW Calif.
- 1993-pres. Participant observation, North Atlantic Basin: maritime masculinities
Major Library and Archival Research
- 1985 Anthropology of menstruation
- 1986-89 History of Boasian anthropology
- 2002-pres. History and ethnography of seafaring in the North Atlantic Basin
- 2005-pres. Early colonial history of Mid-coast Maine
Grants and Awards
- 1976-77 Departmental scholarship, Department of Anthropology, The University of Chicago
- 1976, 78, 88 Research grants, Jacobs Research Funds, Whatcom Museum Foundation
- 1977-81 Graduate Fellowship, The Danforth Foundation
- 1980-99 Travel grants, College of Arts and Sciences, UMB
- 1981 NIH biomedical research block grant participant
- 1982, '84 Faculty Development research support grants, UMB
- 1988 Healey Endowment Grant, UMB; Research grant, Phillips Fund, American Philosophical Society
- 1997 Public Service Endowment Grant, UMB
Books
- 1988 Buckley, Thomas, and Gottlieb, Alma, eds. Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. (Choice Outstanding Book in Anthropology 1989; Council on Anthropology and Reproduction Most Enduring Edited Collection Prize 2002.)
- 2002 Standing Ground: Yurok Indian Spirituality, 1850-1990. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. (Honorable mention, Victor Turner Prize, Society for Humanism and Anthropology, 2003.)
Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters
- 1980 "Monsters and the quest for balance in native northwestern California." In, Halpin, Marjorie, and Ames, Michael, eds., Manlike Monsters on Trial: Early Records and Modern Evidence. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Pp. 152-71.
- 1982 "Menstruation and the power of Yurok women: Methods in cultural reconstruction." American Ethnologist 9(1): 47-60.
- 1984 "Yurok speech registers and ontology." Language in Society 13(4): 467-88.
- 1986 Lexical transcription and archaeological interpretation: "A rock feature complex from northwestern California." American Antiquity 51(3): 617-18.
- 1987 "North American Religions: California and the inter-mountain region." In, Eliade, Mircea, ed., The Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 10. New York: Macmillan. Pp. 505-13.
- 1987 "Dialogue and shared authority: Informants as critics." Central Issues in Anthropology 7(1): 13-23.
- 1988 In Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation (above): "A critical appraisal of theories of menstrual symbolism" (with Alma Gottlieb, pp. 1-50); "Menstrual images, meanings, and values; The sociology of menstrual meanings; Exploratory directions: Menses, culture, and time" (section introductions, with Alma Gottlieb, pp. 51-53, 113-15, 183-85); "Menstruation and the power of Yurok women" (rewrite of 1982 article, pp. 187-209).
- 1989 "The articulation of gender symmetry in Yuchi Indian culture." Semiotica 74(3-4): 289-311.
- 1989 "California and the intermountain region." In, Sullivan, Lawrence E., ed., Native American Religions: North America. New York: Macmillan. Pp. 75-88. (Reprint of 1987 encyclopedia article.)
- 1989 "Kroeber's theory of culture areas and the ethnology of northwest California." Anthropological Quarterly 61(2): 15-26.
- 1989 "Suffering in the cultural construction of others: Robert Spott and A. L. Kroeber." American Indian Quarterly 13(4): 437-45.
- 1991 Kroeber, Alfred L. In, Winters, Christopher, gen. ed., International Dictionary of Anthropologists, compiled by Library-Anthropology Resource Group. New York: Garland Publishing. Pp. 364-67.
- 1992 Yurok doctors and the concept of "shamanism." In, Bean, Lowell J., ed., California Indian Shamanism. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press.
- 1994 "Yurok." In, Davis, Mary B., ed, Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. Pp. 719-21. With the Yurok Transition Team.
- 1995 "Hamatsa, Indian Shaker Church, Prophet dance, totem, totem pole." Harper's Dictionary of Religions. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
- 1995 Buckley, Thomas, and Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley. Response to E. Thomas Lawson and Robert N. McCauley, "Crisis of conscience, riddle of identity: Making space for a cognitive approach to religious phenomena." Journal of the American Academy of Religion LXI(201-23), 1993: 343-52.
- 1996 "The pitiful history of little events: The epistemological and moral contexts of Kroeber's Californian ethnology, 1900-1915." In, Stocking, George W., Jr., ed., History of Anthropology, Vol. 8: Volkengeist as Method and Ethics: Essays on Boasian Ethnography and the German Anthropological Tradition. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Pp. 257-297.
- 1997 "The Shaker Church in Native northwestern California." Native American Culture and Research Journal 21(1): 1-14.
- 1999 "Comment." Current Anthropology Forum on Anthropology in Public. Current Anthropology 40 (2): 201-203.
- 2000 "Renewal as Discourse and Discourse as Renewal in Native Northwestern California." In, Sullivan, Lawrence, ed. Native Religions and Cultures of North America. New York: Compendium Books. Pp. 33-52.
- 2000 "Il rinnovamento come discorso e il discorso come rinnovamento tra i nativi della California nordoccidentale." In, Sullivan, Lawrence E., ed., Culture e Religioni degli Indiani d'America. Tratto di Anthropologia del Sacro 7. Milano: Editoriale Jaca Book SpA. Pp. 163-180. [Italian translation of 2000 book chapter, above.]
- 2000 "The Shaker Church and the Indian Way in Native Northwestern California." In Irwin, Lee, ed. American Indian Spirituality: A Critical Reader. University of Nebraska Press. Pp. 256-269. [Reprint of 1997 journal article.]
- 2001 "Adopting outsiders on the lower Klamath River." In Sergei Kan, ed., Strangers and Kin: Adoptions and Namings of Anthropologists by Native Americans , University of Nebraska Press. Pp. 159-74.
- 2006 "Native authorship in northwestern California." In, Kan, Sergei A., and Strong, Pauline T., eds. New Perspectives on Native North America: Culture, History, and Representations. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- 2007 "Introduction," in DuBois, Cora, The 1870 Ghost Dance. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. Pp. ix-xix.
Journalism and Literature
- 1979 Doing your thinking: Aspects of traditional Yurok education. Parabola 4(4): 28-37.
- 1979 Myth and prophecy. Parabola 6(1): 87-90.
- 1979 Religion and realpolitik: American Indian sacred lands. Anthropology Resource Center Newsletter 5(4): 1.
- 1982 Primitive art. The Mass Media 23: 21
- 1983 Stopping the GO-Road. The Global Reporter 1(3): 16.
- 1984 Living in the distance. Parabola 9(3): 64-79.
- 1985 Anger. Parabola 10(4): 5-6.
- 1985 Nothing special. Parabola 10(1): 96.
- 1987 Yurok houses. News from Native California 1(3): 10-11.
- 1988 World renewal. Parabola 13(2): 82-91.
- 1988 Doing your thinking. In, Dooling, D. M., and Jordan-Smith,Paul, eds., I Become Part of It: Sacred Dimensions in Native Amerlcan Life. New York: Parabola Books. Pp. 36-56. (Reprint of 1979 essay.)
- 1989 World renewal. Onaway 46: 36-39, 42. (Reprint of 1988 essay.)
- 1991 The one who flies all around the world. Parabola 16(1): 4-9.
- 1991 Fixing the world. In, Holder, Jon, ed., Gary Snyder: Dimensions of a Life. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. Pp. 411-15.
- 1993 "Poem on my 55th Birthday" and "South Miami" (two poems). Mangrove 5(1): 128-30.
- 2001 "Why did you" (poem), in Mary Zoll, ed., Ricky. W. Newton, Mass: privately printed.
- 2003 "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Norman Mailer" (poem). The 365 Project.
- 2003 Dancing with Davey, A Sailor's Tale. Newport News, Virginia: MariahBooks.com. (poetry chapbook).
- 2009 "Doing your thinking" (1979) and "World renewal" (1988) Two essays reprinted in Hogan, Linda, ed., The Inner Journey: Views from Native Traditions." Sandpoint, ID: Morning Light Press.
Book Reviews
- 1981 The Ohlone Way and The Way We Lived: California Indian Reminiscences, Stories and Songs, by Malcolm Margolin. (Two books.). Parabola 7(3): 120-24.
- 1981 The paradox of conquest: The influence of Native Americans (review essay.) Parabola 7(3): 90-96.
- 1983 Chilula: People from the Ancient Redwoods, by Robert G. Lake, Jr. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations 10(1): 400-403.
- 1984 Belief and Worship in Native North America, by Åke Hultkranz. Ethnohistory 31(2): 139-41.
- 1984 Our Home Forever: A Hupa Tribal History, by Byron Nelson, Jr. American Indian Quarterly 8(2): 129-130.
- 1984 The Sacred Path: Spells, Prayers & Power Songs of the American Indians, John Bierhorst, ed. Parabola 9(2): 123-24.
- 1985 The Unborn: The Life and Teaching of Zen Master Bankei, Norman Waddell, ed., and The Mind of Clover, by Robert Aitken. Parabola 10(2): 90-94.
- 1986 Being straight with the medicine. (Review essay.) Parabola 11(1): 92-99.
- 1986 Hultkranz and Vecsey's replies: A rejoinder. Ethnohistory 33(1): 87-88.
- 1988 Material Culture of the Chumash Interaction Sphere, Vol. IV: Ceremonial Paraphernalia, Games, and Amusements, by Travis Hudson and Thomas C. Blackburn. Ethnohistory 35(1): 85-87.
- 1989 From the Land of the Totem Poles: The Northwest Coast Indian Art Collection at the American Museum of Natural History, by Aldona Jonaitis. Parabola 13(4): 112-16.
- 1989 Native American Religious Action: A Performance Approach to Religion, and Mother Earth: An American Story, by Sam D. Gill. (Two books.) History of Religions 28(4): 355-59.
- 1989 The Book of Balance and Harmony, translated and with an introduction by Thomas Cleary. Parabola 14(4): 102-08.
- 1992 Anikadel: An Achumawi History of the Universe. C. Hart Merriam, trans. and ed. Native American Culture and Research Journal 16(3):186-190.
- 1993 To The American Indian, by Lucy Thompson. Ethnohistory 40(3):
- 1994 History of Anthropology, Vol. 7: Colonial Situations: Essays on the Contextualization of Ethnographic Knowledge. George W. Stocking, Jr., ed. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 30: 53-56.
- 1998 The Heiltsuks, by Michael Harkin. American Ethnologist 25 (3): 252-53.
- 2003 Religion and Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspective, ed. by Stephen Ellingson and M.Christian Green. Journal of Anthropological Research 59: 413-15.
- 2004 Ishi in Three Centuries, Karl Kroeber and Clifton Kroeber, eds. Ethnohistory 51(3): 653-65.
- 2005 Rolling in Ditches with Shamans, by Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz. Ethnohistory 52/4:791-92.
- in press Cultural Contact and Linguistic Relativity Among the Indians of Northwestern California, by Sean O'Neill. Anthropological Linguistics [journal publication delayed].
Courses Taught
- Boston University Medical School: Psychiatry in Cross-cultural Perspective (graduate)
- Bowdoin College: American Indian Spirituality
- Humboldt State University: Native American Philosophy
- Pennsylvania State University: Technical Writing
- University of Massachusetts, Boston: Anthropology of Educational Administration (graduate); Anthropology of Religion; Community, Gender and Self; Culture and Human Behavior; Cultural Theory (graduate); Ethnography and Literature; Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; Language and Culture; Men in America; Myth in Cultural Context; Native Americans: Contemporary Issues; New England Indian Cultures and History; North American Indians
- The University of Chicago: World View
- University of North Carolina, Greensboro: Introduction to Religious Studies; Non-Western Influences on Western Cultures
Recognition for Teaching
- 1984 Fellow, Society for Values in Higher Education
- 1987 Ford Foundation Teaching Fellow
- 1992 Invited participant, Ford Foundation Seminar on the Improvement of Teaching
- 1998 Seminar Leader, Center for the Improvement of Teaching, UMB
Selected External Service
- 1976 Paid consultant, USDA Forest Service (Yurok Indian religion and land use)
- 1978 Expert Witness, Bureau of Indian Affairs Court (Yurok and Hupa Indian religion and fishing practices); Paid ethnographic consultant, Theodoratus Cultural Research, Inc. (Yurok Indian religion and land use)
- 1981 Paid consultant, Bucknell University Committee on General Education
- 1982-89 Consulting Editor, Parabola
- 1983 Qualified as Expert Witness, 9th District Federal Court (Yurok Indian sacred sites)
- 1985 Consultant pro bono, Western North Carolina Alliance (Cherokee Indian religion)
- 1989-90 Member, Nominations Committee, American Society for Ethnohistory
- 1990 Consultant pro bono, Yurok Transition Team (reservation history)
- 1993 Consultant pro bono, Save Mount Shasta (Native northern Californian sacred sites)
- 1994 Paid consultant, review of baccalaureate program in Anthropology, SUNY Brockport
- 1994- pres. Paid consultant, Independent Producers Services (film)
- 1995 Paid Consultant, Thornton W. Burgess Society (cultural geography of Cape Cod)
- 2003 Consultant pro bono, The Frank W. Benson Museum (art museum planning, Salem, Mass.)
- 2004-pres. Consultant pro bono, The Virginia Project/Maine's first Ship (ethnohistory, Phippsburg, Maine)
Unpublished Consulting Reports
- 1976 The High Country: A summary of new data relating to the significance of certain properties in the belief systems of northwestern California Indians. In, Leisz, D., ed., DES: Gasquet-Orleans Road, Chimney Rock Section, Six Rivers National Forest. San Francisco: USDA Forest Service. Appendix M. Duplicated.
- 1982 Reply to Miller. FES: Chimney Rock Section, Six Rivers National Forest. San Francisco: USDA Forest Service. Appendix H. Duplicated.
- 1990 American Sign Language at UMass/Boston: Review and recommendations. CAS Senate Academic Affairs Committee. Duplicated.
- 1994 Comment in response to Federal Register Announcement 59(168), 8/31/94: National Park Service, Mt. Shasta Historic District: Determination of Eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. Duplicated.
- 2003 Frank W. Benson Museum: Planning Document 1. Duplicated.
Selected Papers
- 1978 Sacred sites as commodities: Federal definition of "cultural resources." Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Los Angeles, CA. (Invited.)
- 1979 Menstruation and the power of women in northwestern California. AAA, Cincinnati, OH.
- 1980 Yurok definitions of the human being. AAA, Washington, DC. (Invited.)
- 1981 Methods in cultural reconstruction: Semantic shifting in Yurok. Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Anthropological Association, Saratoga Springs, NY. (Invited.)
- 1982 Lessons at home: Reflexivity and location of the interpreter. AAA, Washington, DC.
- 1983 Temporal metaphor in a Yurok ritual. Annual Meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society, Cleveland, OH.
- 1984 The objectification of culture and cultural survival in northwestern California. Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society, Pacific Grove, CA. (Invited.)
- 1985 "Kroeber was a German": Informants as critics in native North America. Annual Meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society, Louisville, KY.
- 1985 On the informant as teacher. AAA, Washington, DC.
- 1987 Suffering as a feature in the construction of others. AAA, Chicago, IL. (Invited.)
- 1988 A. L. Kroeber's theory of culture areas. California Indian Conference, Berkeley, CA. (Invited.)
- 1989 World Renewal as discourse. AAA, Washington, DC. (Invited.)
- 1990 Healing in Native northwestern California. Annual Meeting, Northeastern Anthropological Association (NEAA), Burlington, VT.
- 1990 Yurok Indian equivalents of Christian theology. Annual Meeting, American Society for Ethnohistory, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Invited.)
- 1992 Visual representations of the Yurok Indian Jump Dance. Plenary session, NEAA, Bridgewater, MA.
- 1995 Shamanism and suffering. California Indian Conference, Los Angeles
- 1995 Inlaws and outlaws: Adoption in Yurok Indian society. AAA, Washington, DC. (Invited.)
- 1996 "Ethno-ethnohistory" revisited: Native American authors in northwestern California. AAA, San Francisco. (Invited.)
- 1997 Love, rage and grief in salvage ethnography. Annual Meeting, American Society for Ethnohistory (ASE), Mexico City. (Invited.)
- 1999 Writing "The Yurok Book." AAA, Chicago. (Invited.)
- 2003 Seamen's Lives in the 18th and 19th Centuries. ASE, Los Angeles.
- 2005 Blue wave. AAA, Washington, DC. (Invited.)
Selected Invited Lectures
- 1977 Monsters and the quest for balance in Native northwestern California. University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
- 1978 Yurok salmon fishing as a whole-system. Farallones Institute, Los Altos, CA.
- 1979 Explanation and understanding in the anthropological study of religion. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
- 1980 American Indian thought. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA.
- 1980 Sacred geography and cross-cultural communication. Bucknell University.
- 1980 Speech registers in Yurok: Semantic shifting as metaphysical exegesis. Reed College, Portland, OR.
- 1981 Yurok Indian prayer places. American Museum of Natural History, New York.
- 1983 Yurok women and the progress of cultural anthropology. University of Wisconsin, Madison.
- 1984 Blood magic: A critical appraisal of theories of menstrual symbolism. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
- 1984 Religion and the moral context of anthropological understanding. University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
- 1984 Yurok speech registers and ontology. University of Texas, Austin.
- 1985 "Self" and "person" reconsidered: The Yurok case. University of Illinois, Urbana.
- 1986 Intellectual work as practice. Callipeplon Society, Muir Beach, CA.
- 1988 Informants as anthropologists' critics. International Summer Institute for Structural and Semiotic Studies. University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
- 1989 The anthropology of suffering. Callipeplon Society.
- 1989 World renewal as discourse. Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.
- 1990 The Shaker church and the Indian Way in northwestern California. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.
- 1990 Yurok Indian "high doctors." California State University at Hayward.
- 1991 Shamanism and the problem of suffering. Major Association, Oslo, Norway.
- 1992 Native American self-representation in art. Clayton State College, Clayton, GA.
- 1993 Alfred Kroeber and the representation of California Indians: Kroeber's ethnology, 1900-1915. Dartmouth College.
- 1993 Four lectures on shamanism. Gaustad Sykehus, Oslo, Norway.
- 1994 Almost whose ancestors? Ishi, Alfred Kroeber, Theodora Kroeber and the Representation of California Indians. The Oakland Museum, Oakland, Calif.
- 1997 "The sacred" in NAGPRA protocols. University of Chicago.
- 2003 Self and "others" in ethnographic fieldwork. Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA.
- 2005 Lives aren't simply given. Dartmouth College.
- 2006 Wabanaki culture and history. Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, ME.
- 2007 Wabanaki and English histories, 1492-1606. Maine Maritime Museum.
- 2008 Mixed crews and seamen's lives in the 18th and 19th centuries. Maine Maritime Museum.










