Indigeneity in Academia

Manaeha and Matt share their interview with Leila K Blackbird and Leah Horowitz in this episode. Leila K. Blackbird is a PhD Candidate in the subject of U.S. History and the Pozen Family Human Rights Doctoral Fellowship Coordinator. Her research focuses on (post/de) colonialism, slavery, state violence, and the environment. Leah Horowitz is currently at the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin Madison, using ethnographic methods to examine grassroots engagements with environmental issues, especially with regards to Indigenous communities’ negotiations with and resistance to environmentally risky industrial expansion. Both Leila and Leah share their personal experiences being indigenous and working on indigeneity, respectively, especially in Academia. It can be hard, maybe even counterintuitive, to be having a discussion on indigeneity from the context of a colonial institution. How can we strive to be anti-colonial at UChicago and other institutions? Leila and Leah offer their wisdom and share specifics about their respective works to try to explore this question.

References:
The Plantation-to-Petrochemical Complex in Cancer Alley,” in Bulbancha is Still a Place: Indigenous Culture from Louisiana, vol. 3 (New Orleans: Issuu/POCZP, 2021).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_Alley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdR9HcmiXLA&
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aHH_iYNecU&
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm-hs5b6t2c&
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_mining_in_New_Caledonia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBiT5nJgHEQ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_New_Caledonian_independence_referendum#:~:text=An%20independence%20referendum%20was%20held,56.7%25%20and%2053.3%25%20respectively
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRWq1bkxoNY