Being in Relation: Indigenous Peoples, the Land, and Texas Christian University, 1873-2023

by Scott M. Langston, Theresa Strouth Gaul, C. Annette Anderson

Overview

Combining historical scholarship and first-person interviews and essays by Indigenous contributors, Being in Relation: Indigenous Peoples, the Land, and Texas Christian University, 1873-2023 centers Indigenous perspectives to examine the relations of an institution of higher education with Native communities and peoples across its history. What might healthy, respectful relations between Native peoples and institutions of higher education look like?  How do the Indigenous lands upon which TCU resides teach important lessons? How does TCU’s 150-year history with Indigenous peoples and the land in North Texas affect prospects for its present and future relationships with them?    

In interviews and essays, Indigenous students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members share their journeys to TCU, their experiences at the university, and their advice regarding best practices for pedagogical projects and what is necessary to build and sustain respectful relationships benefitting both Native nations and communities and TCU. In a moment when many universities are investigating their histories, Being in Relationwill be useful to instructors and students interested in learning from Native perspectives, higher education administrators who seek advice on how to move forward from histories of educational harm, and readers who want to understand more about Indigenous peoples and histories in North Texas.  

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780875659176
Publisher:	TCU Press
Publication date:	05/17/2025
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Scott M. Langston works in the fields of Native American studies, reception history of the Bible, and Southern Jewish History. He recently retired from Texas Christian University where he taught in the Religion Department and worked in the university’s Native American and Indigenous Peoples Initiative, including serving as the inaugural Native American Nations and Communities Liaison.

Theresa Strouth Gaul is professor of English and director of the Core Curriculum at Texas Christian University. She has published numerous books and articles in nineteenth-century American literature, Native and Indigenous Studies, US women’s writing, and epistolary writings. She helped to found the TCU Native American and Indigenous Peoples Initative at TCU. 

Annette Anderson, LCSW, is a 40 plus year, Licensed Clinical Social Worker/Supervisor.   She is on the Council for the Indigenous Institute of the Americas and the Native American Advisory Circle at Texas Christian University.  She is Chair for the IIA 2-day Native American Celebration (IIAC). Ms. Anderson is a Chickasaw and Cherokee descendant.