Indigenous Humanities Lab
The Indigenous Humanities Lab at the HRC serves as a collaborative hub for advancing Indigenous scholarship, pedagogy, and community engagement at Virginia Commonwealth University and beyond. The lab brings together faculty, students, and community members to explore Indigenous histories, cultures, and knowledge systems through both local and global perspectives.
The Indigenous Humanities Lab centers Indigenous voices and methodologies while fostering interdisciplinary research that bridges academic scholarship with community-based knowledge. We examine how Indigenous peoples have shaped and continue to influence the cultural, political, and intellectual landscapes of their regions, with particular attention to both Virginia's Indigenous communities and global Indigenous experiences.
Open to all members of the VCU community and beyond, the lab welcomes participation from faculty, students, staff, and community members committed to advancing Indigenous humanities scholarship and fostering respectful cross-cultural dialogue. We look forward to welcoming you!
Meet the Team
Sarah Montoya, Ph.D.
Co-director
Sarah Montoya is a queer Mexican American settler working at the intersection of Settler Colonial Studies, Critical Infrastructure and Information Studies, and Feminist Technology Studies. She earned a PhD in Gender Studies from UCLA where she gained experience as a curator, researcher, site designer, and programmer on digital projects exploring race, space, and the law. From 2023-2025, Sarah served as a Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow on the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail where she created training materials for tribal outreach and directed material resources towards tribal educational and cultural programming.
Contact: montoyas2@vcu.edu
Christina Davis, M.Ed., B.I.S.
Co-director
Christina Davis is an Advisor and Instructor in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Interdisciplinary Studies Program within University College. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with minors in Anthropology and Religious Studies, as well as a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Educational Leadership from VCU. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Education, with a focus on Curriculum, Culture, and Change, with her research centering on Indigenous Pedagogy and Methodology. Christina’s university work has included chairing the Educational Subcommittee for VCU’s Land Acknowledgement Task Force, participating on the VCU Health Partnership with Tribal Nations Project Planning team, and serving on the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia’s Virginia Indigenous Nations in Higher Education committee. Additionally, she advises the United Native Voices Student Organization and is a committed advocate for promoting accurate cultural and educational programming.
Contact: daviscl7@vcu.edu
Cristina Stanciu, Ph.D.
Co-director
Cristina Stanciu is an immigrant scholar of Indigenous and Multiethnic Literatures of the United States. Her career so far has been driven by a desire to recover and recirculate Indigenous histories, understand multi-ethnic voices, texts, and archives across time and space, and to think deeply about institutions of knowledge production and dissemination (archives, print culture, spaces of education, and the academy, more broadly).
Contact: cstanciu@vcu.edu
Building Partnerships
The Indigenous Humanities Lab is committed to channeling resources to Native-led and community-driven projects and partnerships.
Our membership includes people working across many professions and communities, including Virginian tribes. As a result of this diversity of interests and skills, we can provide various forms of support including aid in preserving or digitizing community materials, access to library materials and specialized databases, aid in developing digital projects or public-facing materials, physical and organizational labor for community gatherings including pow wows, writing support for research and grants, and more.
Upcoming Meetings
The first meeting of the Indigenous Humanities Lab will take place on Thursday, August 28th, from 4:00pm-5:30pm, at the Valentine House, rm 201 (920 W Franklin St, Richmond VA 23284).
There will be a virtual follow-up meeting on Friday, August 29th, from 12:00pm-1:00pm. Please contact cstanciu@vcu.edu for the Zoom invitation.
Check back soon for more meetings!
News
Mellon Foundation grant will support launch of Indigenous Humanities Lab at VCU
Through a partnership of the Humanities Research Center and the College of Humanities and Sciences, Cristina Stanciu and Catherine Ingrassia are expanding the university’s focus on Native programs.
