Where technical history and Indigenous sovereignty meet on the same tracks.

Synopsis: Next month I’ll be in Sacramento for the Railroads in Native America Forum, a multi-day gathering exploring how railroad expansion shaped — and was shaped by — Native American history across the West. Research for an upcoming book project.

I’ll be attending the Railroads in Native America Forum, July 10–12, at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento — hosted this year by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. The forum brings together scholars, artists, tribal members, and community leaders to discuss the diverse experiences of Native Americans through the lens of railroad development — resistance, dispossession, survival, and the lasting impact on tribal communities and homelands.

This topic has had a grip on me for a while now, and I think it’s because it sits exactly at the intersection of two things I keep returning to: the history of technology, and Indigenous sovereignty. Railroads weren’t just infrastructure — they were one of the engines that drove westward expansion at direct cost to Native land and life. That convergence is also the spine of The Engineer, a book project I’m developing, so this forum is both research and something closer to a pilgrimage.

I’ll be updating this post with more as the forum unfolds — watch this space.