Dr. Eric Toups

Biography

Eric Toups is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Michigan. His academic work primarily focuses on early North American Indigenous history, with a particular emphasis on the Lower Mississippi River Valley and eastern North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. He investigates Indigenous politics and the political exchanges that occurred among Indigenous polities. His current research aims to complicate the Indigenous/colonist dyad by examining the relationship of these communities to concepts of land, water, and space. Toups is also working on a book project that explores the ecological complexities of the Mississippi River Delta, particularly in relation to its Indigenous inhabitants, and the ways they understood and claimed territory in this flood-prone landscape. Notably, his research includes the figure of Moncacht-Apé, an 18th-century linguist and voyager from the Yazoo people, whose narrative sheds light on historical journeys across the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, intertwining themes of exploration, colonization, and cultural exchange.

Research Interests

Experience