Description
Book SynopsisIndigenous Motherhood in the Academy highlights the experiences and narratives emerging from Indigenous mothers in the academy who are negotiating their roles in multiple contexts. The essays in this volume contribute to the broader higher education literature and the literature on Indigenous representation in the academy, filling a longtime gap that has excluded Indigenous women scholar voices. This book covers diverse topics such as the journey to motherhood, lessons through motherhood, acknowledging ancestors and grandparents in one’s mothering, how historical trauma and violence plague the past, and balancing mothering through the healing process. More specific to Indigenous motherhood in the academy is how culture and place impacts mothering (specifically, if Indigenous mothers are not in their traditional homelands as they raise their children), how academia impacts mothering, how mothering impacts scholarship, and how to negotiate loss and other complexities between motherhood and one’s role in the academy.
Trade Review“This book on Indigenous Motherhood eloquently weaves together the beauty, strength, and resilience of those who transform academic spaces for the benefit of Indigenous students, families, and communities. This is the book I yearned for as a graduate student and Indigenous mother-scholar.” -- Jennifer Brant * University of Toronto, co-editor of 'Forever Loved: Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada' *
"
Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy is a brilliantly felt and witnessed act of collective Indigenous scholarship from a fiercely honest new generation of teachers and intellectual leaders who affirm their whole selves as the heart of nurturing present and future Indigenous generations." -- Dian Million, (Tanana) * author of Therapeutic Nations: Healing in an Age of Indigenous Human Rights *
“This book on Indigenous Motherhood eloquently weaves together the beauty, strength, and resilience of those who transform academic spaces for the benefit of Indigenous students, families, and communities. This is the book I yearned for as a graduate student and Indigenous mother-scholar.” -- Jennifer Brant * University of Toronto, co-editor of 'Forever Loved: Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing and Murder *
"
Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy is a brilliantly felt and witnessed act of collective Indigenous scholarship from a fiercely honest new generation of teachers and intellectual leaders who affirm their whole selves as the heart of nurturing present and future Indigenous generations." -- Dian Million, (Tanana) * author of Therapeutic Nations: Healing in an Age of Indigenous Human Rights *
"A much need contribution to Indigenous scholarship,
Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy weaves together rich, powerful stories of Indigenous women who have navigated through the colonized, patriarchal spaces of academia while centering their Indigenous motherhood at the core of their journeys. A very inspirational and critical read for those seeking to understand the experiences of Indigenous women in academia."
-- Susana Geliga * PhD, Lakota/Taino, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Naive American Studies Program, Un *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Section I: East-Thinking
An Indigenous boy occupying the academy and the intergenerational (motherly) teachings that led him there
Christine A. Nelson (K’awaika/Diné)
“She had no use for fools”: Stories of Dibé Łizhiní mothers
Tiffany S. Lee (Diné/Lakota)
Nine Months of Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy: A Rainbow Journey From the Islands to Na’Neelzhíín
Leola Tsinnijinnie-Paquin (Diné)
M(othering) and the Academy
Susan Faircloth (Coharie Tribe of North Carolina)
My Children Are My Teachers: Lessons Learned as a Kanaka Maoli Mother-Scholar
Nicole Reyes (Native Hawaiian)
Dreams of Hózhó Within the Womb: A Navajo Mother’s Letter to Her Newest Love
Nizhoni Chow-Garcia (Diné)
Section II: South-Planning
Hollo Micha Oh Chash: Drawing from our Choctaw ancestors’ wisdom to decolonize motherhood within the academy
Michelle Johnson-Jennings (Choctaw), Alayah Johnson-Jennings (Choctaw, Quapaw, Sac & Fox, Miami Nations), & Ahnili Johnson-Jennings (Choctaw, Quapaw, Sac & Fox, Miami Nations)
Mvskoke Eckvlke (Muscogee Motherhood) in Academic Spaces
Dwanna L. McKay (Mvskoke)
The (Time) Line in the Sand
Miranda Belarde-Lewis (Tlingit/Zuni)
Protection and the Power of Reproduction
Shelly Lowe (Diné)
A Glint of Decolonial Love: An Academic Mother's Meditation on Navigating and Leveraging the University
Tria Blu Wakpa (Powhatan Descent)
Honoring our Relations (Collective Stories)
Section III: West-Living
Widening the Path: Reflection of Two Generations in Academia
Symphony Oxendine (Cherokee/Choctaw) & Denise Henning (Cherokee/Choctaw)
Mothers and Daughters are Forever
Renée Holt (Diné and Nimiipuu)
A Journey of Indigenous Motherhood Through the Love, Loss and the P&T Process
Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Minthorn (Kiowa/Apache/Umatilla/Nez Perce/Assiniboine)
Indigenous Motherhood in STEM
Otakuye Conroy Ben (Oglala Lakota)
Kuhkwany Kuchemayo ‘Aaknach, An Iipay Mother’s/Teacher’s Story
Theresa Gregor (Iipay/Yoeme)
Impact of a Pandemic on Indigenous Motherhood
Section IV: North-Assuring
Our Journey Through Healing
Sloan Woska-pi-mi Shotton (Otoe-Missouria/Iowa/Wichita/Kiowa/Cheyenne) & Heather J. Shotton (Wichita/Kiowa/Cheyenne)
Motherhood, Re-Imagined
Pearl Brower (Iñupiaq/Armenian/Chippewa)
Weaving Fine Baskets of Resilience:Resilient Mothering in the Academy as Kanaka Nation Building
Erin Kahunawaikaʻala Wright (Native Hawaiian)
Hā‘ena-i-ku‘u-poli: A Letter to My Daughter
Kaiwipuni Lipe (Native Hawaiian)
A Hidden Cartography: Matrilinealizing the Terrain of Academe
Charlotte Davidson (Diné)
Berries and Her Many Lectures: The Work of Storywork
Stephanie Waterman (Onondaga/Turtle Clan)
Tying The Bundle
Notes on Contributors
