[nativestudies-l] Kenneth M. Morrison (1946-2012)

[Alyssa Mt. Pleasant]

-------- Original Message --------
From: 	McNickle Center <mcnickle at newberry.org>




*Kenneth M. Morrison*, of Florence, Oregon, passed away suddenly, but 
peacefully, Saturday morning, January 7th, while at home enjoying a cup 
of coffee.
Ken was born in Skowhegan, Maine, on November 22, 1946, to Kenneth M. 
Morrison and Lucille Morrison. He attended high school at St. Martin of 
Tours in Millinocket. The eldest of five chidren, Ken was the first in 
his family to attend college, earning his B.A. in History in 1968 from 
St. Dunstan's University on Prince Edward Island. Ken supported himself 
by working summers at the Great Northern Paper Company. After briefly 
contemplating a career in secondary teaching, Ken enrolled at the 
University of Maine - Orono, where he earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in 
Canadian-American History in 1970 and 1975 respectively. While 
completing his dissertation, he was honored to receive a Pre-Doctoral 
Fellowship to the Newberry Library Center on the History of the American 
Indian and often spoke of this time as a catalyst in his intellectual 
development. After earning his doctorate, Ken accepted a faculty 
position teaching American Indian History at UCLA. Ken excelled in his 
new field, despite never taking a course in American Indian History. He 
also enjoyed life  on Venice Beach with his beloved cats Cinderella and 
Samantha, as well as a number of lifelong friends.  In 1983, Ken 
accepted a tenured position at Arizona State University in the 
Department of Religious Studies and in 1984 published his first book The 
Embattled Northeast. At ASU, Ken served as a mentor to dozens of 
students, many of whom went on to success in academia and activism. His 
commitment to undergraduate education was recognized through several 
competitive teaching awards including the 2001 Parent's Association 
Professor of the Year award; he worked tirelessly to improve teaching 
and learning at ASU. In 2002, Ken published his second book, The 
Solidarity of Kin. Ken retired from ASU in 2008, but continued his 
intellectual work and his conversations with students as he relocated to 
Oregon in 2011. Into his last weeks of life, he was still building new 
relationships with students and advising them on intellectual paths.

Ken was predeceased in death by his parents and his nephew, Jude. He is 
survived by his stepfather, Percy Stewart, his sisters Linda Ippoliti 
and Joanne Crocker, his brothers John Stewart and Danny Morrison, as 
well as his feline companion, Miss Abby. He is also survived by his 
nieces Diana, Jennifer, Joelle, Morgan, Johnna, Kristin, Maria, and 
Samantha and his nephews Aaron, Ian, and Ryan. Along with his family, 
Ken is survived and missed by many friends. His relationships with Aaron 
Anderson, Geoffrey Glover, Michael Jewell, and Thandeka were especially 
meaningful.

Ken's life was dominated by two parallel commitments. First, was his 
dedication to the American Indian people he met and worked with. This 
dedication was evidenced by his work as an expert witness on the Maine 
Indian Land Case, of which he was very proud. He argued that American 
Indian peoples had been historically misunderstood, particularly in 
their interactions with Europeans. He worked to understand
American Indian lives and religious practices on their own terms.

Inextricably linked to his commitment to American Indians was his 
embrace of the existential philosophy of Martin Buber. As Ken often 
recounted, after reading Buber's I and Thou as a college senior, he 
cried for three days. Ken truly understood that all real living is 
meeting and the uncertainty that such a stance entailed. He built 
mutual, authentic relationships at every opportunity and was 
passionately dedicated to the people with whom he was in conversation. 
At the core of his being, Ken was about dialogue
and wanted to foster it wherever and with whomever he encountered. As 
Martin Buber wrote, and Ken lived, "We live in the currents of universal 
reciprocity."

In lieu of flowers, a donation in Ken's memory can be made to the 
Florence Food Share:

Mail:
Florence Food Share
P.O. Box 2514
Florence, OR 97439

Online: http://www.florencefoodshare.org/donate_money.html

--

D'Arcy McNickle Center
The Newberry Library
(312) 255-3564
www.newberry.org/mcnickle
facebook.com/ncais.mcnickle



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nativestudies-l/attachments/20120126/496d0466/attachment.html