My goals as a Native American studies instructor, scholar, and community member are not only to present the diversity and immensity of Indigenous realities, perspectives, and worldviews. They are also to bridge the Indigenous and Western approaches to reading, analyzing, and most importantly, experiencing research to benefit the lives of Diné people and our communities. My breath of research engages Native American Studies from a hemispheric perspective and also extends to include questions of indigeneity on a global level. This approach allows for students to not only analyze their own surroundings and reconnect to their personal communities and experiences but to also put forth a complicatedly dynamic understanding of how their individual narratives coincide, differ, and relate to global Indigenous realities. I draw from my personal experiences of not seeing Native American perspectives within a greater “American” narrative, questioning this exclusion, and finally, bringing Indigenous voices to the forefront of my studies, teachings, grant work, and community engagement.
At my grandparents home in Sand Springs.