Native American Studies

Indian City City, U.S.A. Anadarko, OK (Image by Foley)

Dr. Foley is actively involved in American Indian life in Oklahoma. Academically, he is primarily concerned with the particular issues that specifically relate to the 38 federally recognized tribes, bands, nations, and tribal towns of Oklahoma. He has studied the Muscogee language formally and informally, completed the 40-hour Cherokee Nation History Course, and has published a book chapter on the contemporary status of American Indian music in Oklahoma, as well as extensive writing on American Indian music from Oklahoma in the Oklahoma Music Guide. In addition to producing the yearly Native American Storytelling and Traditional Arts Festival on the Saturday before Thanksgiving each November, he also coordinates the annual RSU Graduation Powwow in May each spring. Dr. Foley also is the advisor to the RSU Native American Student Association, has served as an officer on the Stillwater Public Schools Indian Parents Association, and has emceed several American Indian events such as powwows, stomp dances, and princess pageants. While no real qualification in itself, he is married to an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and is also a member of Hutchee Chuppa Indian Baptist Church, which has led him to intensive study of, and extreme reverence for, Muscogee (Creek) hymns.

Typically, Dr. Foley's students gain a basic understanding of the diversity of tribal entities in Oklahoma and confront the contemporary issues facing those parties. Dr. Foley's courses explore, but are not limited to, sovereignty, identity, music, current events, cultural activities, language, art, history, economic development, and legal issues. While Dr. Foley teaches the courses, he uses an extensive collection of interviews he has conducted with tribal leaders, elders, and cultural preservationists throughout the state of Oklahoma to provide students with authentic expertise from the American Indian point of view on tribal subjects.