Luhui Whitebear
Waldo Hall 282
2250 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
United States
California Indigenous studies, Indigenous feminisms, Indigenous rhetorics, Indigenous activism, MMIW, national law & policy, Indigenous land & water rights.
Positionality statement:
I am enrolled with the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation and have Huastec and Cochimi ancestry. I am also a mother, poet, and activist engaged in community work locally and statewide. Although originally from my Chumash peoples’ homelands in Santa Barbara, California, I spent most of my life in Oregon between the coast and Willamette Valley. I live and work on the lands of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, both of whom have been a big part of my life and I have family ties with. I was a first-generation college student and received all four of my degrees from Oregon State University where I am now an Assistant Professor for Indigenous Studies in the School of Language, Culture, and Society. As an Indigenous faculty member, I am committed to honoring and respecting the Tribal nations whose lands and waters our institution is situated on and interacts with. My research and work institutionally are informed by the Indigenous knowledge systems and beliefs I was raised with. Previously, I was the Center Director of the kaku-ixt mana ina haws at Oregon State University following my time as the College Advising and Scholarship Coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
Grants & Related Projects:
Co-PI: “BLM Pacific Northwest (PNW) Tribal Forest Restoration and Native Seed Project.” Department of Interior, $5M. Lead PI: Dr. Cristina Eisenberg, College of Forestry. Additional Co-PI's: Dean Thomas DeLuca, College of Forestry; Tom Kaye, Institute for Applied Ecology; Si Gao, Environmental Studies, California State University, Sacramento; Michael P Nelson, College of Forestry. https://tek.forestry.oregonstate.edu/home
Publications
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
PhD: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, OSU
MAIS: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Ethnic Studies; Queer Studies, OSU
BS: Anthropology, OSU
BS: Ethnic Studies, OSU
Campus-based:
- Core Leadership, President’s Commission on Indigenous Affairs
- CLA Senator, Faculty Senate
- Bias Response Team
- Indigenous Peoples Day and Pow-Wow Planning Committees
- Advisory Council, Centro Cultural César Chávez
- Faculty Mentor, Gamma Alpha Omega Sorority, Kappa Chapter
- Faculty Mentor, M.E.Ch.A. (Movimiento Estudiatil Chican@s de Aztlan)
- Faculty Mentor, SAFER (Students Active For Ending Rape)
Profession-based:
- Indigenous Peoples Caucus Chair, National Women's Studies Association
- National Tribal Leaders Climate Summit Planning Committee, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
Community-based:
- Native American & Alaska Native Advisory Committee, Oregon Department of Education
- Chair, Corvallis School Board
- Chumash Community Working Group, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council
- Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
- American Indian Caucus: Conference on College Composition and Communication
- Centre for Global Indigenous Futures
- Gamma Alpha Omega Sorority, Inc.
- National Women's Studies Association
- Servant Leader Award. Gamma Alpha Omega Sorority, Inc. 2023.
- Bill and Caroline Wilkins Faculty Development Award. College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University. 2022.
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Presidents Dissertation Award. Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition. 2021.
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Outstanding Diversity Advocate Award. Office of Institutional Diversity at Oregon State University. 2019.
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Student Affairs Service Award. Division of Student Affairs at Oregon State University. 2017.
- ES 241: Introduction to Native American Studies
- ES/WGSS 319: Feminist Decolonizing Methodologies: Social Justice Research
- ES 345: Native Americans in Oregon
- ES/WGSS/QS 375: Arts & Social Justice
- ES 440/540: Indigenous Resistance & Pop Culture
- ES 444/544: Native American Law: Tribes, Treaties, and the United States
- ES 448/548: Native American Philosophies
- ES/WGSS/QS 449/549: Indigenous Feminisms
- HC 407: Water, Fish, Indigenous People, and the Planet
- WGSS/QS 476/576: Transnational Sexualities
Programs & initiatives affiliated with:
- Indigenous Studies
- Ethnic Studies
- Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge Lab
- Environmental Arts and Humanities Initiative
- Anthropology (to serve on graduate committees only)
- College Student Services Administration (to serve on graduate committees only)
- College of Forestry (to serve on graduate committees only)