Thomas E. Sheridan (born 5 September 1951) is an anthropologist of Sonora, Mexico and the history and culture of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and the Southwest. He was selected a Distinguished Outreach Professor at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, and has been affiliated with the Department of Anthropology and the Southwest Center since 2003.

Background

Sheridan's family moved to Phoenix, Arizona at the age of 3. He left the South West after high school, attended

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

(briefly) before returning and graduated from the first incarnation of

Prescott College Prescott College is a private college in Prescott, Arizona. History In 1965, the Ford Foundation brought together a group of educators from around the United States. Prescott College was the result of this gathering. The college was originall ...

in Arizona in the 1970s. He became interested in Northern Mexico and travelled there frequently for study, spending months in

Bahía Kino Bahía Kino is a town part of the Hermosillo Municipality in Sonora, Mexico on the Gulf of California; it was named after Eusebio Kino. It has a population of approximately 7,000 people. The name also applies to the adjacent bay between Tibur� ...

in 1971. He completed a PhD on the

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United Stat ...

in 1983. He directed the Mexican Heritage Project at the Arizona Historical Society from 1982-1984, and was Curator of Ethnohistory and then Director of the Office of Ethnohistorical Research at the

Arizona State Museum The Arizona State Museum (ASM), founded in 1893, was originally a repository for the collection and protection of archaeological resources. Today, however, ASM stores artifacts, exhibits them and provides education and research opportunities. It ...

in Tucson from 1984 to 2003. He lives on a ranch in the Alta Valley, west of Tucson, AZ.

Scholarship

Sheridan's initial scholarship was on the history and culture of the

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

, north west Mexico, and native ranchers around the ''municipio'' of

Cucurpe Cucurpe is the municipal seat of Cucurpe Municipality in the Mexican state of Sonora. History Originally the territory was occupied by the Opatas and the Pimas Altas. In 1647 the Jesuit missionary Marcos del Río founded the first Spanish settle ...

in Sonora. He combined studies of livelihoods, with the historical unfolding of Native and colonial interactions over the centuries. In the 1990s he wrote a widely read account of the history of Arizona, ''Arizona: a history'', revised in 2012. In 2015 he published ''Moquis and Kastiilam'' with a number of

Hopi The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...

and other scholars, telling the story of the encounters in northern Arizona between the Hopis and Spaniards from 1540 until the

Pueblo Revolt The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, also known as Popé's Rebellion or Popay's Rebellion, was an uprising of most of the indigenous Pueblo people against the Spanish empire, Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, larger than prese ...

of 1680. For the first time, Spanish archival material is supplemented with oral traditions recounted by Hopi elders. The book details Spanish abuses during efforts to missionize the Hopi, who thereafter were able to resist colonization. Since the late 1990s Sheridan has also been involved in numerous coalitions and working groups to preserve the desert of southern Arizona, and promoting working ranches as a conservation mechanism, particularly to control urban sprawl. He describes this as merging the interests of scientists, environmentalists and land users, and as an effort to avoid "chewing up the West" through fragmentation and real estate development. The approach is detailed in Charnley ''et.al''., 2014. He is an advocate of "working landscapes" and served on the committee that developed the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.https://www.fws.gov/endangered/bulletin/2002/03-06/12-15.pdf

Publications

* Sheridan, T.E., S. Koyiyumptewa, A. Daughters, D. Brenneman, TJ Ferguson, L. Kuwanwisiwma, and L. Lomayestewa. 2015. ''Moquis and Kastiilam: Hopis, Spaniards and the Trauma of History, Vol. I''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Charnley S., T.E.Sheridan and Gary P. Nabhan (eds.). 2014. ''Stitching the West Back Together: conservation of working landscapes.'' University of Chicago Press. *Sheridan, T.E. 2012. ''Arizona: A History''. Revised Edition, 1st ed. 1995. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Sheridan, T.E., W. Broyles, G. Nabhan, G. Hartmann and M. Thurtle. 2011. ''Last Water on the Devil’s Highway: A Cultural and Natural History of Tinajas Altas''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Sheridan, T.E. 2006. ''Landscapes of Fraud: Mission Tumacácori, the Baca Float, and the Betrayal of the O’odham''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Sheridan, T.E. 1999. ''Empire of Sand: The Seri Indians and the Struggle for Spanish Sonora, 1645-1803.'' Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Sheridan, T.E. and D. Guy. 1998. ''Contested Ground: Comparative Frontiers on the Northern and Southern Edges of the Spanish Empire''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Sheridan, T.E. 1998. ''A History of the Southwest: The Land and Its People''. Southwest Parks and Monument Association. *Sheridan, T.E. and C.Polzer (eds.). 1997. ''The Presidio and Militia on the Northern Frontier of New Spain, 1700‑1760, Vol. II, Part A: Baja California and Sinaloa‑Sonora''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Sheridan, T.E. and N. Parezo. 1996. ''Paths of Life: American Indians of the Southwest and Northern Mexico.'' Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Sheridan, T.E. 1988. ''Where the Dove Calls: The Political Ecology of a Peasant Corporate Community in Northwestern Mexico.'' Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Sheridan, T.E. 1986. ''Los Tucsonenses: The Mexican Community in Tucson, 1854‑1941''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. *Sheridan, T.E. and T. Naylor (eds.). 1979. ''Rarámuri: A Tarahumara Colonial Chronicle, 1607‑1791''. Flagstaff: Northland Press.

Awards

Sonoran Institute Sonoran(s) may refer to: * Something derived from or related to the State of Sonora in the country of Mexico, in North America ** Sonoran people from the Mexican State of Sonora and their descendants ** Places or things in the Mexican State of Sonor ...

Faces of Conservation: Sustainable Communities Award (2007) *Alene Dunlap Smith and Paul Smith Award for Lifetime Achievement, Tucson Pima County Historical Commission (2016) *Byron Cummings Award from the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (2016).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheridan, Thomas 1951 births Living people American anthropologists People from Sonora University of Arizona faculty Historians of Native Americans American conservationists Prescott College alumni