Allan Downey is Dakelh, Nak’azdli Whut’en, and an Associate Professor in the Department of History at McMaster University where his research and teaching focus on the history of Indigenous nationhood, sovereignty, and self-determination.  He is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University (PhD History, 2014) and a recent recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Columbia University.  Allan previously served as the Chair of the Indigenous Studies Program and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University from 2015-2018.

Author of The Creator’s Game (2018), his first book traces the history of lacrosse in Indigenous communities to better understand Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations and Indigenous identity formation while recognizing the sport as a key site of Indigenous self-determination and articulations of sovereignty. Allan has been fortunate to receive several awards for his scholarship and he has published articles in the Journal of Canadian Studies, the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Journal of History, as well as a chapter in the edited collection Making Men, Making History published by UBC Press. 

His current SSHRC funded research project focuses on the history of Indigenous ironworkers in New York City as a lens to view Indigenous modernity, self-determination, and nationhood.  Beyond his research and teaching activities, one of Allan’s greatest passions is working with Indigenous youth and he volunteers for several Indigenous communities and youth organizations throughout the year.