Natalie McDonald

Natalie D. McDonald is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of History. Born and raised in Los Angeles, her research focuses on American empire in twentieth-century California and the West. She is particularly intrigued by the ways historical memory is reflected in (or projected onto) the landscape, whether urban or natural. How, for example, has public space in the urban borderlands been used to challenge ethnonationalism? And how have Western landscapes—especially those “preserved” as National and State Parks—functioned as sites of both aspiration and memory? Natalie received her B.A. in History summa cum laude from Pomona College and her M.A. in History from California State University, Northridge, where she was the 2024 recipient of the Nathan O. Freedman Memorial Award for Outstanding Graduate Student.

Keywords: U.S. West; American Empire; historical memory; public space; borderlands