Fields of Interest
Biography
Dr. Alexandra (Sasha) Harmon taught in the American Indian Studies Program from 1995 to 2015. She received her B.A. from Stanford University in 1966. After graduating from Yale Law School in 1972, she advised and represented Indian tribes in Washington State for over 15 years. In 1988 she entered the graduate history program at the University of Washington in order to research and write about issues that arose for tribes during her years as an attorney. Dr. Harmon received her Ph.D. in History in 1995.
Dr. Harmon's research examines histories of American Indians, with specific attention to their relations with non-Indians, to changing legal cultures, to ethnic, racial, and tribal identities, and to influences of and changes in economic cultures.
Dr. Harmon has published articles on Indian economic history, Indian treaties with the United States, and the history of Indians in the Puget Sound Region. Her book Indians in the Making: Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities around the Puget Sound won the 1999 Washington Governor's Writer's Award. Dr. Harmon's more recent book, Rich Indians: Native People and the Problem of Wealth in American History, analyzes several instances in the past when Indians had substantial wealth. It focuses specifically on consequent public discourses concerning economic culture, morality, and power and their relationship to Indian identity.
Dr. Harmon teaches:
AIS 330 - U.S. - Indian Relations
AIS 335 - American Indians and the Law
AIS 370 - Researching Indians' History Joint listed with (HSTAA 315)
AIS 425 - Indians in Western Washington History (HSTAA 417)
AIS 446 - American Indian Economic History (HSTAA 446)
HSTAA 517 - Graduate Field Course in American Indian History