Chris Lewis, Ph.D.

I completed my Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of  Minnesota. My research interests include the environmental history of the United States, the social and environmental impact of global development, and the historical development of ideas about who is an American and what are the shared values and principles that America stands for. My research and teaching focus on how social and cultural conflicts can be understood as ongoing debates between different perspectives. For example, while Native Americans saw the American West as settled and cultivated by Indian peoples  for thousands of years, white Americans and Europeans saw the American West as an unsettled. undeveloped wilderness waiting to be conquered. By analyzing these competing perspectives we can better understand American history and culture.