Biography
Theodore Hilton has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Anthropology from Tulane, as well as a B.A. in Sustainable Development from Columbia University and an A.A. in Liberal Arts from Seattle Central Community College. His dissertation research examines the use of historic preservation narratives by descendant residents in southeast Louisiana Free Settlements struggling against industrial encroachment. His broader research interests include activist methodologies, political ecology, abolitionist geographies, and the politics of recognition. He was awarded a New Orleans Center for the Gulf South Monroe Fellowship in 2021 for an ethnographic project titled “From Petro-Plantation to People’s Preservation: Louisiana Free Settlements and the Road to Recognition.” He was a previous fellow and then consultant for Tulane’s Mellon Program in Community-Engaged Research. Theo also explores themes of ecology, development, queerness, race, and Southern identity as singer and songwriter in the band Nana Grizol.