Born in Eagle River, Alaska, I currently work as an Assistant Professor of Land-Based Education at the McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) in the University of Idaho. My research interests are broadly focused on educational strategies for connecting youth, especially Indigenous youth, with land, culture and heritage.
Current projects include: working toward Indigenous pedagogies for world heritage education through partnering with Indigenous communities around the world to co-construct Land-based educational curricula; co-creating cultural expression-based STEAM curricula to foster youth connection to science and the environment in Idaho; and Cultivating Relationships (CR) a multiyear learning process where K-12 teachers partner with Tribal Nations and University researchers to examine the relationships between people, land, and water.
I hold a PhD in Social and Comparative Analysis in Education from the University of Pittsburgh where my dissertation work was an extensive ethnography of two Iñupiaq dance and drumming groups exploring participation of other-than-human members and highlighting potential insights for building more culturally relevant learning experiences. Previous projects include partnering with National Parks sites to create educational programming toward engaging Native American and Alaska Native youth in natural and cultural heritage stewardship, management, and promotion, an investigation of the use of flamenco music for community building among Muslim immigrants and refugees in southern Spain as a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow, and the use of popular music for language revitalization in Germany, Mexico, and Australia.
An avid musician, composer, and educator, I have taught, written, and performed in Nepal, Uganda, Spain, New Zealand, Ireland, and Alaska.
David E. K. Smith 