Dr. Stephen C. Jett - A Sweeping Overview

Dr. Stephen C. Jett (b. Cleveland, OH, 1938) holds an A.B. cum laude in Geology (Princeton 1960) and a Ph.D. in Geography (Johns Hopkins 1964).

He taught geography at The Ohio State University 1963-1964 and then at the University of California, Davis, serving thrice as Geography chair and becoming emeritus in 2000. He was also professor of Textiles and Clothing (1996-2000). He has also taught or co-taught courses at other institutions, and he serves on the boards of various research organizations. 

Jett’ major research areas include Navajo history, material culture, and sacred places. He wrote: Tourism in the Navajo Country: Resources and Planning (1966); award-winning Navajo Wildlands (1967, photographs by Philip Hyde); House of Three Turkeys: Anasazi Redoubt (1977, photographs by Dave Bohn), award-winning Navajo Architecture: Forms, History, Distributions (1981, with Virginia E. Spencer); Navajo Placenames and Trails of the Canyon de Chelly System, Arizona (2002); and France (2004); plus scores of articles. 

He has also published many articles and book chapters on his second major interest, pre-Columbian transoceanic influences between the Old World and the Americas, and he founded and edits Pre-Columbiana: A Journal of Long-Distance Contacts. 

He has curated or co-curated four textiles exhibits, including, in 2006 for the Georgia Museum of Art, The University of Georgia, Woven Jewels from the Black Tents: Baluchi, Aimaq, and Related Tribal Weavings of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, May 20 - July 30, 2006 (brochure and CD catalogue).

At the Atlantic Conference, Dr. Jett will discuss a wide range of subjects, such as arbitrary cultural traits like cosmology, calendrics, and art. He'll touch on some of these more complex technologies (barkcloth/paper-making, the blowgun, metallurgy, weaving and dyeing) He'll mention language similarities, cultivated plants and domestic fowl.  And he'll go into areas as intriguing as human intestinal parasites. He may touch on climatology, oceanography, and traditional watercraft and navigation. Dr. Jett's interests are wide and varied and his intellect is keen. This is sure to be an interesting presentation and follow-up live interview.

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