Learn more about: How has Federalism Shaped (and Constrained) Native American Political Rights?

Project Title: How has Federalism Shaped (and Constrained) Native American Political Rights?

Melanie Jean Springer, University of California, Santa Cruz

Melanie Jean Springer is currently an associate professor of politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 2006. She began her academic career in the political science department at Washington University in Saint Louis. In the Fall of 2013, she joined the politics faculty at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She specializes in American politics. Her research and teaching interests include American political development, political history, voting and elections, state politics, political geography, sovereignty, Native American political rights, political parties, partisanship, and political institutions. Her book How the States Shaped the Nation: American Electoral Institutions and Voter Turnout, 1920-2000 was published in 2014 with the University of Chicago Press (Chicago Studies in American Politics). This work examines the effects of numerous state-level electoral institutions on 20th century voter turnout rates in the American states. Her research has also been published by Brookings Institution Press, and in Political Research Quarterly, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, American Politics Research, the Journal of Policy History, and the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship.

About the APSA Advancing Research Grants for Indigenous Politics Recipients

The APSA Diversity and Inclusion Advancing Research Grants provide support for research that examines political science phenomena affecting historically underserved communities and underrepresented groups and communities. In December 2024, APSA awarded 22 projects for the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Advancing Research Grants for Indigenous Politics for a combined amount of $44,000.  Read about the funded projects.