James A. Owen

James Owen is Assistant Director to the Institute of Native American Studies. His interdisciplinary work engages with indigenous language revitalization, ethnomusicology, ethnobotany, and ethnozoology, as well as American religious history. He researches indigenous and creole language documents from the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, with a focus on native interpretations of Christian hymns and biblical narratives. He writes about the ways indigenous and creole language hymns reflect indigenized Christian faiths. His work demonstrates that knowledge shared in multi-ethnic mission communities shaped evangelical Christianity in the Americas. He teaches US History and Native American Studies courses and is Assistant Director of UGA's Institute of Native American Studies. He has held fellowships with the Newberry Library and the American Musicological Society. Prior to his current term at UGA, he was Visiting Assistant Professor at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, where he taught Indigenous Studies, and Native American & US History courses. James was a research assistant for the Invasion of America interactive digital map. His article "Come Holy Spirit, Lord God: The Holy Ghost in the Cherokee Mountains" appears in Seeking Home: Marginalization and Representation in Appalachian Literature and Song.