Rick Monture is a member of the Mohawk nation, Turtle clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. He completed elementary school at Six Nations, attended Caledonia High School, and later enrolled at McMaster.

In 1991 he received a Combined Honours BA in History and English and completed his MA in English in 1996. His Master’s thesis examined the evolution of literary images of the Native in the United States from the early 19th century to the present, and was entitled “All of a Piece”: Native Representation and Voice in American Fiction.

He was also a recipient of a Canada-US Fulbright Award and attended Cornell University in 1998 to further his research, which focused on the divergent approaches to Native literature and criticism in the two countries. In addition to being a member of the McMaster First Nation Students Association since its inception in 1989, Rick has also been a Tutorial Assistant and a Lecturer for the Indigenous Studies Program for many years, and served as Acting Director in 2009.

In June 2010, Rick successfully defended his PhD dissertation, Teionkwakhashion Tsi Niionkwariho:ten (“We Share Our Matters”): A Literary History of Six Nations of the Grand River, which explores how the Grand River Haudenosaunee have consistently drawn upon cultural traditions in letters, poetry, fiction and film as a means to assert and maintain their sovereignty. In September 2010, he accepted a cross appointed position as Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Cultural Studies and Indigenous Studies.

Rick’s areas of academic interest include Haudenosaunee history, First Nation, Métis and Inuit literatures, popular culture, and the epistemology of Indigenous language and culture. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Chiefswood National Historic Site at Six Nations, and is a Board member with the Grand River Post Secondary Education Office. He is also a member of the Steering Committee and an Associate Professor with the Indigenous Knowledge Centre located at Six Nations.