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Death And Dying As A Black Studies Professor The Toxicity Of Racism At Portland State, Ethan Johnson

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ethan Johnson, Chair of Black Studies at Portland State University, discusses the killing of Jason Washington by Portland State University security and the decisions that led to that shooting, as well as the toxic environment on campus.

Psu Black Studies At Risk, Professor Says: Administration Called Out For Toxic Environment, Beverly Corbell, Ethan Johnson

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This school year is the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Black Studies Department at Portland State University, a momentous occasion for celebrating the formation of a degree curriculum devoted to the history, culture and politics of black people, but the African-American director of the department doesn’t feel much like celebrating.

Ethan Johnson, who has headed the department for the past 15 years, says the university is failing to support the black studies curriculum and even more is failing to listen to the concerns of minority students and faculty at the school, a result that is disastrous to their …

Understanding The Politicization Of Oromo Identity In The Diaspora: Re/ Locating The Bones Of The Oromo, Madeline Jaye Bass

Dissertations and Theses

The Oromo people of Ethiopia share a common language, worldview, set of sacred meanings, and a historic system of governance. The rise of the Abyssinian Empire in the late 1800s led to the colonization of the Oromo; their language and religion were made illegal, their homeland was expropriated and renamed, and they were forced to live as slaves on their own land. After the end of the Abyssinian colonial era, historic discrimination was institutionalized into the new Ethiopian state form through the politicization of identities. Ethnic identities become political identities when cultural traits are used by the state as criteria …

Culturally Responsive Social Work Methods For Use With Indigenous Peoples, Sara Davidson Cowling

Student Research Symposium

The history of the American social work profession and its interactions with Indigenous people is intimately connected to colonial imperialism. Social workers have been complicit and outright participatory in various forms of settler state violence, especially in the form of forced cultural assimilation through the Indian Adoption Project and Indian Residential schools. While these institutions are now closed, and federal law ostensibly prevents such harms from recurring, Indigenous people are often rightfully suspect of social workers and the work they do.

How can non-Indigenous people approach the profession of social work through a decolonizing lens? How can we center Indigenous …

Katanga Secession: The Growth And Manipulation Of Ethnic Associations, Hannah L. Mohtadi

Young Historians Conference

The Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains one of the most minerally rich regions in the world, leading to many political and social interferences by foreign powers hoping to secure a part of the wealth. Following decades of oppressive colonial rule, the Democratic Republic of Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, sparking a violent political shift and allowing a secessionist movement to take place in Katanga. While it is commonly held that foreign powers manipulated indigenous leaders in order to remain a powerful source within the community, this assertion is inaccurate. Although external powers undoubtedly shaped …

Damming The Columbia River And Its Impact On Celilo Falls, Dalton R. Stormo

Young Historians Conference

This paper discusses the history of Native Americans at Celilo Falls and in the Dalles Area, as well as the impact of white settlers moving there. It focuses on the impact this had on the river itself, through fisheries and various damming projects, and how it affected the lives of the various tribes surrounding the river. It examines the impacts of damming the Columbia River at various points along the river, and what that did to life for the River Tribes. The thesis of this paper is that the flooding of Celilo Falls by the Dalles Dam was a final …

Student Movements In The United States And Mexico: A Testimony, Roberto M. De Anda

Chicano/Latino Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The author reflects on his experiences teaching and going to graduate school in Mexico City in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I discuss my participation in Chicano Movement organizations before moving to Mexico, and the reasons that propelled me to go to graduate school there. I highlight lessons learned teaching as a volunteer at a normal popular, or people’s teachers college, and as a professor at the Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (UACh). I also describe my graduate studies at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The conclusion focuses on the impact that these experiences had on the author’s professional …

Raven’S Work In Tlingit Ethno-Geography, Thomas F. Thornton, Douglas Deur, Bert Adams

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This is a chapter in Language and Toponymy in Alaska and Beyond: Papers in Honor of James Kari.

Book description:
It is difficult to imagine place names research in Alaska without the work of James Kari. Through his tireless field work and advocacy, Dr. Kari has collaborated with speakers of all of Alaska’s Dene languages to help build a comprehensive record of Dene geographic knowledge. When Jim came to Alaska in 1972, the documentation of Dene languages was fragmentary at best, and the only records of Native place names were those found inaccurately spelled on maps and gazetteers. Now …

Occasionally, He’S A Somniaticidal Maniac: Stephen Graham Jones Reclaims Home And History, Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr.

Indigenous Nations Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Environmental activism and preservation of the land, acknowledgement of our shared responsibilities to the planet, to unci maka, to Mother Earth, to our home; these are obligations of love we as human beings embrace with devoted regularity. But what happens when we look at stories that might destroy the world entirely, might remold, reshape, reclaim and remake (or perhaps even “rename” in a restorative move) our histories and homes? What is the reception for works that defy the expectations of devotion to the environment in Native American literature one genre at a time? That address historic erasure by reshaping the …

Reorientations; Or, An Indigenous Feminist Reflection On The Anthropocene, Kali Simmons

Indigenous Nations Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Destruction of homelands. Loss of kinship species. Exposure to deadly contaminants. Mass extinction. Transformed lifeways. In the face of these radical changes, a question lingers: How long will life be possible? Recently the academy has also felt the urgency of these environmental problems and proposed to address them within the framework of the term "the Anthropocene." Indigenous studies has offered various responses to the Anthropocene, some arguing that it has utility in framing the violence of colonialism and others critiquing the limitations and assumptions behind the "anthropos" …