By way of Palmyra, NJ and Cheswold, DE, Dr. Ridgway is of Black and Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape descent from Philadelphia, PA. They are a writer and research with a interdisciplinary background in discourse analysis, archival research methods, and creative writing, based in Cambridge, MA.

Currently, they are a Mellon Foundation ACLS Leading Edge Fellow. They earned their M.A and Ph.D in History, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. They earned their B.A in Psychology and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Swarthmore College.

As a writer, Dr. Ridgway’s work includes poetry, creative non-fiction, cultural critique, and fiction. Much of their writing is interested in grief, love, and the perpetual search for utopia. Regardless of genre, Dr. Ridgway is concerned with the work of living, how we survive the unsurvivable, and the joy of racing toward the future. Their work can be found or is forthcoming in Women’s Studies Quarterly, Diode Poetry Journal, The Blog of the Journal of the History of Ideas, and elsewhere. (see Writing).

In addition to their writing, Dr. Ridgway’s voice and expertise has been featured in various news outlets and podcasts, such as NPR-affiliate WHYY, as well as public lecture series (see Media).

Previously, Dr. Ridgway was a Research Associate at PHI where they supported various applied research and communication projects with a focus on qualitative and narrative analyses. Prior, they were a lecturer in History and Literature at Harvard University where they taught undergraduate courses in American Studies and Ethnic Studies related to colonialism, gender, and Indigeneity, as well as methods courses in archival and literary methods. Dr. Ridgway was also an Andrew W. Mellon Native American Scholars Initiative (NASI) Predoctoral Fellow, Humanities Research Institute (HRI) Graduate Fellow, and general editor for the poetry magazine Kissing Dynamite.