Asserting Place for Indigenous Women Scholars

• In Event: Division J Vice Presidential Session: Power, People and Place: Linking Indigenous Place to Belonging in Higher Education

Abstract

This presentation examines the deep connection of Indigenous women scholars to place and the their identity as Indigenous people and scholars. Participation in academia often requires that Indigenous scholars move away from their home communities, taking them long distances from their tribal communities, traditional homelands, and places that are central to their identities as Indigenous people. Such moves are viewed as major sacrifices for Indigenous scholars, as the connection to home and place is often described as umbilical; home cannot be separated from who we are as Indigenous people. This presentation presents the narratives of Indigenous women scholars and explores the deep connection that Indigenous women have to their home communities, the strength that is gathered from place, and how this is represented in their experiences as Indigenous women scholars.

Author

• Heather Shotton, University of Oklahoma