Karenne Wood (born 1960, died 21 July 2019) was a member of the Monacan Indian tribe who was known for her poetry and for her work in tribal history. She served as the director of the Virginia Indian Programs at Virginia Humanities, in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. She directed a tribal history project for the Monacan Nation, conducted research at the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

, and served on the

National Congress of American Indians The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilati ...

' Repatriation Commission. In 2015, she was named one of the Library of Virginia's "

Virginia Women in History Virginia Women in History was an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia that honored Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation. The program began in 2000 under the aegis of th ...

Biography

Karenne Wood was born in 1960, grew up in the

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

metropolitan area and is an enrolled member of the Monacan Indian Nation. She earned a Master's of Fine Arts from George Mason University and a PhD in anthropology at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

. Wood worked as a researcher at the National Museum of the American Indian and was tribal historian for the Monacan Nation for six years. In the mid-2000s, Wood served as the Repatriation Coordinator for the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA), supervising the return to Native communities of sacred objects. She has served on the National Congress of American Indians’ Repatriation Commission and on the Monacan Tribal Council. Wood held a gubernatorial appointment as Chair of the Virginia Council on Indians for four years, and served on the Advisory Council for the 'Jamestown 400th Commemoration Commission' during the 2007 quadrennial celebration of Virginia. As part of the preparations, Wood edited ''The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail'' (2007) and curated the exhibition ''Beyond Jamestown: Virginia Indians Past and Present'', at the

Virginia Museum of Natural History The Virginia Museum of Natural History is the state's natural history museum located in Martinsville, Virginia founded in 1984. The museum has several different award-winning publications, is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, and has ...

. In 2008, she was named director of the Virginia Indian Heritage Program (later Virginia Indian Programs) at Virginia Humanities, a state humanities council in Charlottesville, Virginia. Wood was a published poet and studied the Monacan language, which is no longer spoken. She was evaluating the linguistic heritage of her tribe and the effects of loss of language upon people. Her areas of study included how one communicates with elders and ancestors when the words they used no longer exist, and how that changes the values of people.

Selected works

* "Urban Nightmare," ''American Indian Quarterly'', Vol. 22, No. 4 (1998), p 493 * ''The Monacan Indians: Our Story'' (1999) * ''Weaving the boundary:

oems An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

' (March 2016) University of Arizona Press, Sun Tracks series. * * Wood, Karenne (200
''The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail''
2nd ed. Charlottesville, VA: Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. In Anthology * ''Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology'' (2018) University of Georgia Press.

References

External links

Interview with Karenne Wood
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Karenne 1960 births 2019 deaths American women poets Monacan people Native American women writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American women historians People from Fluvanna County, Virginia Poets from Virginia George Mason University alumni 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets Historians from Virginia 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American writers 20th-century Native American women 21st-century Native American women