Jessica Nelson

As St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” I’ve always found the wide variety of ways that people can live their lives across time and space endlessly fascinating. This curiosity drew me to the academic field of history, where I can research and learn about peoples’ stories and try to contextualize and communicate these stories in a meaningful way. After earning a BA in History from the University of Notre Dame, I spent a Fulbright year in Madrid, Spain, and then earned a Master’s degree in Spanish Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Studies from NYU in Madrid. I completed my PhD in history at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Prior to becoming an assistant professor here in the Catholic Studies department at DePaul, I worked as a curator focusing on religious art at the Eiteljorg Museum of Native Americans and Western Art in Indianapolis, and taught history at Lake Forest College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Research

My research focuses on Indigenous women in both the United States and Mexico in the late colonial and early national periods, and the ways in which they understood and practiced religion. In particular, I’ve examined the lives of women who entered convents for Indigenous women in Mexico and compared their experiences with the lives of women in the US who belonged to “Christian Indian” communities. This research will form the backbone of my first book, tentatively titled The Cross of Christian and Native. I also have a background in public history and museum studies and curated an exhibition on religion and the American West while at the Eiteljorg.

Teaching

I feel fortunate to be in an interdisciplinary department where my broad research areas translate easily into a wide range of course offerings! In addition to courses on the history of Catholicism in the Americas, I teach classes that are often cross-listed in the Latin American & Latino Studies Department or Modern Languages. I enjoy teaching and like using a mix of traditional lectures, primary source readings, and discussions combined with more unusual approaches like using role-playing historical games and helping students develop public-facing or community-service projects.

Education

PhD, Rutgers University