Dr. David Shorter was raised in New Mexico and attended college at Arizona State University and the University of California Santa Cruz. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies with a minor in Women's Studies and a Master’s degree in Religious Studies. After receiving his PhD in the History of Consciousness, he went on to teach at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and then at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
David is currently Professor in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at the University of California Los Angeles. He is affiliated with American Indian Studies, Anthropology, Digital Humanities, the Chicano Studie Research Center, Gender Studies, the Center for Community Engagement, and the Masters in Social Science. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Indian Culture and Research Journal.
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He teaches both undergraduate students in the World Arts and Cultures BA program and graduate students in the Culture and Performance MA and PhD program. In 2013, David received the University's Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2025, he was recognized for his outstanding achievement in graduate mentoring.
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David's work includes a list of firsts. His Planting the Seeds was described in Anthropology News (2003) as the “first ethnographic website.” His film, Cutting the Cord, was the first recording of an Indigenous death ceremony, fully narrated by members of the community. In 2013, he released “The Wiki of Indigenous Languages,” the first website devoted to peer-to-peer revitalization of Indigenous languages. In 2021, David published The Archive of Healing, which remains the largest digital archive of given wisdom about healing from around the world, searchable by both user preference and mode of healing.
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David's current research includes a book-length manuscript on editing, a scholarly essay on the study of psychics and mediums, and the continuation of his collaborative work on healing with both the Koreatown Youth and Community Center and the Gabrielino-Tongva Springs Foundation.
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You can learn more about David's scholarly research and teaching, including his full curriculum vitae, on his faculty webpage. For anyone wanting to inquire about letters of recommendations, being an advisee, or for access to his courses at UCLA, please read his UCLA faculty webpage first.
