Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

Taking A Seat In The Circle: Decolonizing Gender Roles That Argue Against The Participation Of Feminine Bodies At The Big Drum, Juli Suzukawa

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The origins of the Big Drum can be traced back to the 1860s when Tail Feather Woman, a Dakota woman, had a vision of its creation as a tool of resistance. The Big Drum has since expanded and can now be seen at various Indigenous ceremonies and social events. However, there has been controversy regarding the participation of feminine and queer bodies. While reasons for this vary, it has also contributed to harm amongst Indigenous youths that have a more fluid stand on gender identity and may not conform to colonial “gender norms”. In this paper, I will explore how …

Walking In The Footsteps Of My Ancestors: A Deep Map Of Cherokee Forced Removal, Deborah Lyn Kirk

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In this study of the place of Cherokee forced removal, I use a Third Space approach to blend Indigenous Methodologies, Deep Mapping, Geospatial mapping and analysis, and 3D Geography. Using a hybrid platform that provides a mélange of media types, storytelling forms, and interactive tools, I reimagine and retell the story of the Cherokee “Trail of Tears.”

In accordance with Cherokee philosophies of duyuktv, harmony, and “a good mind” I first sought out Cherokee sponsorship from community respected and culturally knowledgeable Cherokee citizens; partnered with the National Trail of Tears Association (NTOTA); submitted my research proposal to the Cherokee …

Star Wars: Andor – An Abolitionist Study Guide, Marcelo Garzo Montalvo, Isaac Ginsberg Miller

Feminist Pedagogy

This study guide provides a set of activities for teaching abolition through Season 1 of the speculative fiction TV series Star Wars: Andor (2022). Through the practice of critical literacy (viewing, reading, and analysis), we offer various ideas on how to engage Andor as a relevant pedagogical tool for studying and teaching abolitionist movement histories and methodologies. By guiding students through a critical analysis of this widely-circulated, mainstream cultural text, we seek to activate an abolitionist pedagogical lens that can be applied across various genres and media – making tangible connections between popular culture and political struggles writ large. These …

Trading Posts And "Old Pawn": Diné Navajo Trade And The Native Art Industry, Dustin Roberto

Native American Studies Student Publications

"Old pawn" is widely used to describe antique Native American jewelry and goods once pawned for credit at trading posts in the Four Corners region. This article traces how the trading post pawn system influenced Diné Navajo economic life from 1868 through the 1970s, when federal regulators documented exploitative practices such as inflated interest, withheld mail, and items sold without notice. Weavers and individuals pawning jewelry typically received store credit or overvalued commodities instead of cash, a result of the power dynamics of the setting. Today, "old pawn" functions as a marketing label for vintage goods, often without documentation. The …

Defending The Homeland: An Archaeoethnodemographic (Aed) Analysis Of Population Dynamics And Settlement Patterns In The Navajo Dinétah, Ad 1720–1745, Kurt Mantonya

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation presents an innovative archaeoethnodemographic (AED) analysis of Navajo population dynamics during the Middle Period (AD 1720−1745) of the Gobernador Phase in the Dinétah, the ancestral Navajo homeland in northwest New Mexico. During this critical quarter-century, intensified Ute and Comanche slave-raiding and Spanish military expeditions forced the Diné to abandon traditional dispersed settlement patterns in favor of defensive aggregation around fortified pueblitos—small masonry defensive structures built on boulder-tops and mesa-rims throughout the region.

The study employs an AED framework that systematically integrates archaeological site analysis, ethnographic household organization data, historical documentation, and demographic modeling to reconstruct population dynamics during …

More Than Peyote: Trauma, Healing, And The Politics Of Indigenous Cultural Survival In The Age Of Psychedelic Colonialism, Christine Diindiisi Mccleave

Indigenous Studies

This dissertation examines the intersection of peyote religion, historical trauma, and the emergent psychedelic movement through a critical Indigenous lens. Centering peyote as both a sacred medicine and a symbolic flashpoint, the study highlights how contemporary psychedelic policy, practice, and commercialization perpetuate settler-colonial paradigms and threaten Indigenous cultural survival. While mainstream narratives frame psychedelics as tools for healing, this research emphasizes how such framing often obscures deeper histories of dispossession, cultural appropriation, and epistemic violence. Using a mixed-methods approach, including 50 anonymous survey responses, 13 qualitative interviews, and a 6-person focus group, this study amplifies the voices of tribal citizens …

November 25, 2025 Nagpra And Tribal Relations Committee Meeting Minutes, Bryan Morey

University NAGPRA and Tribal Relations Committee

November 25, 2025 minutes for the WKU NAGPRA and Tribal Relations Committee meeting. Meeting conducted via Zoom.

A Plática With Jimmy Santiago Baca, Nick Daniel Rivas

Regeneración: A Xicanacimiento Studies Journal

A Plática with Jimmy Santiago Baca, interview by Nick Daniel Rivas.

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

K'Iwinya'n-An:N (Acorn Eater), Sunsara C. Sutton

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Overfishing, Pluto Bowen

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Artist Statement, Annette Moulay

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

The Day That Suspended Time And Space And Carceral Walls Smelled Like A Salmon Pit, Crane Conso

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Poem

Manifesto For Seeds, Tatiana Patino Madriaga

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Poem

Revival And Survival, Armando Peña

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Poem

Art And Poetry, Tori Mcconnell, Kimora Van Pelt, Michaela Rain

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Soaring Beyond The Pines & Indigenizing Higher Education, Mckinley Mcpherson

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Rou Dalagurr Native Council Youth Voices Leading Curriculum Change, Cutcha Risling Baldy

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Building a Health Curriculum Lesson for Grades 9-12 in the Native American Studies Model Curriculum for California

Grandma's Plate, Maudesty Merino

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.

Youth Council Interview, Alana Moseley, Destinlee Mendez

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Food for Indigenous Futures has put together a Youth Council which is an opportunity for both youth and facilitators of the lab to collaborate. This is a space in which youth can develop leadership skills, have a platform for their voices to be heard, and advocate for positive change. There are a total of 13 youth on the Council within the age range of 15-26 years old. The wider Food for Indigenous Futures Programs has served over 2,000 youth. Activities have included Listening Sessions, Traditional Meal Sharing, Gathering Trips, Food Preservation Classes, and Conferences. program. As the program comes to …

Youth Voices I Youth Futures Food For Indigenous Futures & The Native Youth Council

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Includes images and drawings by Michaela Rain Ward (Hoopa Valley Tribe)

Canciones De Resistencia, Chelsea Rios Gomez

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Playlist

'Farming Is Medicine: The Deep Medicine Circle And Food Sovereignty On Ohlone Land', Sangeeta Sarkar

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Film review

'Lwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions And Science', Covin Sigala

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Book review

Nourishing The Soul: Indigenous-Owned And Rooted In The Land Of The Yocha Dehe, Chelsea Rios Gomez

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Restaurant review

Growing Relations With Remagination Farm, Paul Michael L. Atienza

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

An electronic message exchange between Dr. Robyn Rodriguez, co-founder of the Remagination Farm, and Dr. Paul Michael L. Atienza, assistant professor of Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Campesino World-Building: Stories Of Migration, Memory, And Care In The Tension Of The Colonial Frame, Chelsea Ríos Gómez

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

Campesinos, often reduced to the label of “farmworkers”, are too often seen only through the lens of their labor within profit-driven systems. This thesis disrupts that limited narrative by illuminating the rich, expansive nature of vivencias campesinas, ways of being that transcend capitalist measures of value. These vivencias are lived, embodied experiences rooted in campesino lifeways, encompassing cultural, spiritual, and relational practices that nurture and sustain life.

My research is guided by four central questions: (1) In what ways have campesinos in pixley resisted exploitative labor systems, and how can this resistance be understood as a form of care labor? …

Place-Based Learning Practices: Institutional Responsibilities, Karley Rojas

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

The 'Place-Based Learning Practices Project' (PBLP) is a graduate project under the Native American Studies Department Rau Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute (FSL). Making contributions at the intersection of Western academia and Indigenous science, it imagines and realizes content, policies, and protocols surrounding two case studies and the larger cal poly humboldt (cph) institution which respect, honor, and uplift Indigenous sovereignty and resurgence in partnership with the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe and the greater regional tribal community. Encompassing two projects internal and external to the institution, I aim to address the construction of controlled and protective …

''Thanks For The [Land] Acknowledgement, Now What?'': Settler Histories And Decolonial Futures At Cal Poly Humboldt's Schatz Tree Farm, Sangeeta Sarkar

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

As California's newest polytechnic university, Cal Poly Humboldt is often lauded for its Indigenous-­facing programming and commitments to Indigenous peoples. In recent years, Native American Studies faculty, staff, and students, alongside Indigenous community partners, have led conversations about Cal Poly Humboldt meaningfully supporting tribal sovereignty by returning land to Native nations. As Cutcha Risling Baldy summarized in a research interview, "Thanks for the [land] acknowledgement, now what?" (2024, personal interview). However, though Cal Poly Humboldt has made various land acknowledgements and references to Indigenous peoples in its university policies, conversations about #LandBack have been met with resistance from the university. …

Foreword, Cutcha R. Baldy, Karley Rojas

Rou Dalagurr Food Futures

No abstract provided.