Office Hours
Email for appointment
Education
PhD, University of North Carolina
MA, University of North Carolina
BA, University of Wisconsin
About Me
Aubrey Lauersdorf is a historian of early North America and the Native South. She specializes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Her research interests include Indigenous politics and diplomacy, Indigenous-settler relations, imperial borderlands, and women & gender.
Her book project, Apalachee Coast: Indigenous Power in the Colonial Gulf South, examines how the Apalachees, an Indigenous polity in the modern-day Florida panhandle, leveraged their relationships with the Spaniards and Indigenous neighbors to dominate the Gulf South in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She has begun research for her second book project, tentatively titled “Wandering an Indigenous World: European Expeditions and American Mythmaking.”
Dr. Lauersdorf’s research has received support from various sources including the Huntington Library, the Center for the Study of the American South, and the University of Florida Libraries. She has presented at conferences and workshops across the United States and abroad. Currently, Dr. Lauersdorf serves on the Nominations Committee for the American Society for Ethnohistory.
At Auburn, Dr. Lauersdorf offers courses on the American colonies, vast early America, Native American history, the American West, and U.S. women’s and gender history. She also teaches the first half of the World History survey. With support from the Biggio Center, Dr. Lauersdorf has designed classes that prioritize active learning and student engagement.
Research Interests
Early America, Native South, imperial borderlands, women's and gender history