Laurel Sanders
- Assistant Professor, History & American Indian St
Contact Info
- Email: laurel.sanders@UND.edu
- Office: 701.777.2682
Office Address
History & American Indian Studies
O'Kelly Hall Room 246
221 Centennial Drive Stop 8096
Grand Forks, ND 58202-8096
Biography
Laurel Sanders joined the History and American Indian Studies Department in 2022. She has a Ph.D. in History from the University of Iowa and an M.A. in Public History from Appalachian State University. Her professional background includes work with the National Park Service and Grand Portage Anishinaabe. Laurel studies the history of health, medicine and nursing in Indigenous communities. Her other research interests include Native public history, the labor of caregiving, Appalachian studies, mental health history, and Indigenous comic books. Laurel teaches courses on Native Health and the Humanities, Federal Policy and Native Nations, Native Civil Rights, Indigenous Art, and other topics.
Recent:
Forthcoming December 2026. Nurses and a Beloved Woman: The Field Nurse Program and
Eastern Cherokee Health Sovereignty in Interwar America, University of North Carolina
Press.
2024 “Federal Field Nurses and Indigenous Births” Medical Humanities 50, no. 2 (2024): 235-245
2024 Review of Sounds of Tohi: Cherokee Health and Wellbeing in Southern Appalachia, by Lisa J. Lefler, Thomas N. Belt, Appalachian Journal 51, no. 3-4 (2024): 322-323
2023 “Lula Owl Gloyne: The First Cherokee Field Nurse, and Public Health in Native Appalachia” Appalachian Journal 50, no. 3-4 (2023): 212-233
IS 121. Introduction to American Indian Studies. 3 Credits.
Introduction to main concepts, methods, and theories in American Indian Studies, designed to provide a background for further studies. This course approaches American Indian Studies from a perspective grounded in the humanities. F,S,SS.
IS 262. Indigenous Art. 3 Credits.
Examines Native American art and architectural history from ancient to modern contexts and discusses contemporary Native artists. Student coursework includes a creative element. F, even years.
IS 325. Federal Policy and Native Nations. 3 Credits.
This course discusses Native American nations' inherent sovereignty and their unique legal and political status in relation to the United States. F, odd years.
IS 333. Indigenous Peoples of the World. 3 Credits.
This course addresses two major topics: how Native North Americans have influenced world history, and the experiences of Indigenous peoples around the globe. S, even years.
IS 365. Public and Environmental Health. 3 Credits.
This course addresses the ways in which Indigenous communities have perceived and dealt with public and environmental health issues from the period before contact with Europeans to the present day. S, odd years.
IS 368. Issues in Native Health. 3 Credits.
This course addresses one or more currently relevant topics in Native health or healthcare through the lens of the humanities. These topics may include mental health, reproductive health, health in law and policy, comparative study of Indigenous health in the United States and elsewhere, or others. S, odd years.
IS 370. Native Civil Rights. 3 Credits.
History of civil rights activism by Indigenous peoples in the United States, addressing the unique needs and goals of Native peoples within diverse political movements. S, even years.
IS 375. Health and Food Sovereignty. 3 Credits.
This course addresses Native communities' self-determination over food as a matter of community and environmental health. It covers the history of food and colonialism and the modern struggles for food security, land sovereignty, and revitalization of food traditions. F, odd years.