Current Native American Studies MA Program Students

From: Livingston, MT

Research Interests: Investigation of teacher training in and around Indian Education for All with particular attention to the deconstruction of radicalized teacher identity, Native women's reproductive healthcare and justice, cultural feminist theory, Native poets as activists and human rights poetry. 

Leisure activities: Most all things active, friends, mountains, and spending time with her dogs Walter and Bjornn.

Research Interests: Indian Education For All (IEFA), High School Curriculum (California focused), Ethnic Studies, English Literature and Language, Social Science (Anthropology, History)

Hobbies: Reading, Exercising (Hiking, Yoga, Dance, Kayaking), Movies, Food 

From: Bellingham, WA

Occupation: Semi-retired working part time with a Christian organization in Western Canada and Baja CA, Mexico

Research Interests: Unhealthy co-dependent dynamics of Christian missions and Native communities, both on the res and in urban centers

Leisure Activities: Travel, Hiking, Kayaking, Sea Hawks football

"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

Tribe: Apsáalooke (Crow)

Research Interest: Language Preservation, with emphasis on Crow Hymns

Gender (my cape teeth point up ^^^)

Research interests: 

Tribal Coagulation, Tribal Cohesion, Reflective Witnessing and Community Art as Pre-Contact Medicine 

Using native cohesive arts practice as a means of finding emotional temperatures of the land;

Understanding conducive indigenous internal mechanisms rejected and disassembled by initial and derivative colonization strategies with current residual impact on: sovereignty, native parenting norms, native gender roles, sexuality, humor, grief, community decision making, accumulation of resources, captivity, cruelty standards of use.

“You can’t unfall a baby. Some things can’t be undone. Cheek to the land girl; dirt, seawaters, storms know the way. On this dirt we dance, cry, sleep on broken bones. Can’t unfall, cheek to the land girl.”  -Wewa No. 9

Current Location: Big Fork, MT

Research Interest: Researching and resolving the high cancer rates on Indian Reservations and among Native populations

Tribes: Sault St. Marie band of Ojibwe, Wyandotte, Mi'kmaq

Research Interests: Oral Traditions, Education, Language and the intersections of the three

Hobbies: Hiking, Reading, Swimming, seeing live music

From: Belgrade, MT

Research Interest: The cultural and political implications of international borders dividing Indigenous homelands

"You can't know a place, if you don't know her people." -Alexander Newby

From: Northwest Montana

Tribes: Crow, Salish

Research Interests: Bison Reintroduction, Climate Change, Language Revitalization, Economic Sustainability, Decolonization

Leisure Activities: Backpacking, Hiking, Camping, Fishing, Rafting, Basketball, Soaking in Hot Springs

Tribe: Eastern Shoshone Fort Washakie, Wyoming Wind River Reservation

Research Interest: Focus on Tribal Regulations an Policy dealing with Tribes in Energy and Minerals

From: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Research Interests: Education, Institutional Trauma & Betrayal, Student/Community Mental Health and Psychology, Intergenerational Trauma, Educational Isolationism

Hobbies: Reading, Drawing, Cooking, Touring beautiful Montana, Makeup Artistry, and Traveling 

Tribe: Enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation--Cameron, AZ Chapter

Born: Salt Lake City, Utah

Research Interests: Indianist Operas of 20th Century, Navajo Literature and Poetics, language revitalization efforts, decolonization methodologies, Native American literature and film, and "Hand Talk" or Plains Indian Sign Language.

Contact: [email protected]

Amaskpipikuni

Tribes: Blackfeet, Lummi, Haida, and Tlingit

From: Michiana (Southwestern Michigan, Northern Indiana)

Occupation: Montana State University Architectural Records Manager/Archivist and Massage Therapist

Research Interest: Pueblo history; landscape ethnohistory; history of anthropology/archaeology; heritage management and education

“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over.  Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” -Kurt Vonnegut 

From: Many different states in America and currently resides in Afghanistan and teaches pre-school.  Previously has taught in Kurdistan and at an Athabascan school in Alaska.

Research Interests: Heirloom gardening and homeopathy 

Leisure Activities: Learning languages (currently studying Dari, Turkish, French, Norwegian, German, and Russian), knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, and reading books relating to a future MA in Scandinavian Studies.  

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and to discover that the prisoner was you.” -Lewis B. Smedes

Tribes: Oglala Lakota (Enrolled) and Cherokee Descent

Research Interests:  Health Disparities in Tribal Communities, Traditional foods, Physical Activity Incorporating Indigenous Games

Leisure Activities:  Sports, Lifting Weights, Hiking, Netflix documentaries. 

"Life aint about how hard you can punch, it's about how many times you can get hit, and keep going, it's about how many times you can keep getting hit, and still move forward"
-Rocky Balboa