Dr. Whitebear kneeling on a buffalo robe looking at palms of her hands while wearing a red skirt, black shirt, cedar bark hat, and shell jewelry.

Luhui Whitebear
image credit: Ampkwa Images
Assistant Professor, Indigenous Studies
School of Language, Culture and Society
[email protected]
541-737-7831

Waldo Hall 282
2250 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
United States

Research/Career Interests

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:

PI: "One Water in the Siletz River Basin." Oregon Tribal Water Empowerment Grant, $50,000. Co-PI: Dr. Meghna Babbar-Sebens, College of Engineering.

PI. "Cultivating Relationships through Camas Restoration." Oregon State University, $19,500. Co-PI's: Dr. Lauren Gwin, Center for Resilient Agriculture & Food Systems; Dr. Molly Carney, Anthropology. 

Co-PI. "Enabling One Water Security for Climate-Ready Communities." Oregon State University, $25,000. Lead PI: Dr. Meghna Babbar-Sebens, College of Engineering.

Prior Grants:
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. 2023-2025.

Publications

2025

Whitebear, Luhui. "A Story of Parallel Worlds: Decolonial Possibilities Navigating Institutional Spaces." Decolonial Possibilities: Indigenously Rooted Practices in Rhetoric and Writing. Eds. Lisa King and Andrea Riley Mukavetz. Conference on College Composition and Communication of the National Council of Teachers of English, 2025.
 
Whitebear, Luhui. "Our Voices Have Always Been Political: Indigenous Feminist Rhetorical Leadership." Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 27.2 (2025): 63-82.
 
Whitebear, Luhui. "The Earth and the Sky are my Teachers." Indigenous Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Ed. Lara A. Jacobs. Oregon State University Press, 2025.
 
Hildalgo, Alexandra, Ben Lauren, Luhui Whitebear. "Restroration and Connection: Where Rhetoric Meets Art." Constellations: A Cultural Rhetoric Publishing Space. Moderators: Catheryn Jennings and Megan Simmermeyer. Issue 8, Conversations, 2025.
 
Jacobs, Lara, Jonathan Fisk, Andrew Kalani Carlson, Ashley D'Antonio, Serina Payan Hazelwood, Elizabeth E. Perry, Melinda Adams, Robert Newman, Rhode Grayson, Joseph Gazing Wolf, Tara Chestnut,Todd A. Mitchell swəlítub, Karen J. R. Mitchell, Luhui Whitebear, Kathryn Champagne, Coral B. Avery, Pat Gonzales‐Rogers. "U.S. Parks and Protected Area Power Structures: From Historic Policies to Indigenous Futurities." Earth Stewardship, 2.3 (2025): 1-20.
 

2024

Whitebear, Luhui. "As Long as the River Runs: Rhetorics of Indigenous Feminist Activism." Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Feminist Rhetoric. Eds. Jacqueline R. Rhodes, Suban Cooley. Routledge, 2024.
 
Whitebear, Luhui, Kenlea Pebbles, and Stephen Gasteyer. “Resisting Extraction Of The Sacred: Indigenous-Based Grassroots Resistance To Frontier Capitalism”. Grassroots Activisms: Public Rhetorics In Localized Contexts. Eds. Lisa L. Phillips, Sarah Warren-Riley, and Julie Collins Bates. Ohio State University Press, 2024. 
 

2023

Whitebear, Luhui. “Resisting The Settler Gaze: California Indigenous Feminisms”. Feminist Formations 35.1 (2023): 97-116. 
 
Whitebear, Luhui. “Pen Of Molten Fire: Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask’s Writing As Indigenous Resistance”. American Indian Culture & Research Journal 46.1 (2023): 115-128. 
 

2022

Whitebear, Luhui. “Drifting Across Lines In The Sand: Unsettled Records And The Restoration Of Cultural Memories In Indigenous California”. The Routledge Companion To Gender And The American West. Ed. Susan Bernardin. Routledge, 2022. 
 
Whitebear, Luhui. “Women And Environmental Politics”. Women Worldwide: Transnational Feminist Perspectives. 2nd ed. Eds. Tracy Butts, Patti Duncan, Janet Lockhart, Susan Shaw. Oregon State University, 2022.  
 
Whitebear, Luhui. “On Data Sovereignty, Counter Colonial Storytelling, And Indigenous Resistance: An Interview With Luhui Whitebear”. Doing Digital Stories. Eds. Laurie E. Gries and Blake Hallinan, Computers and Digital Press: Utah State University Press, 2022. 
 

2021

Furman, Kali, Jennifer A. Venable, Leida Karibu (L.K.) Mae, Luhui Whitebear, Rebecca J. Lambert. “Women And Religion In North America”. Women And Religion: Global Lives In Focus. Ed. Susan Shaw. ABC-CLIO, 2021. 1-36. 
 
Whitebear, Luhui. “Interlocking Communities Of Care: A BIPOC Map Through Academia”. in Rhetoric Review: Symposium: Diversity is not Enough: Mentorship and Community-Building as Antiracist Praxis by Ore, Ersula, Kim Wieser, Cristina V. Cedillo. Rhetoric Review, 40(3): 2021.
 
Whitebear, Luhui. “2020 & The Elections Can’t Stop Us: Hashtagging Change Through Indigenous Activism”. Spark: A 4C4Equality Journal (2021): n. pag. 
 
Whitebear, Luhui, and Rachel Black Elk. “OPB Interview: As Land Acknowledgments Become More Common, Indigenous People Grapple With Next Steps”. OPB, 2021. 
 

2020

Whitebear, Luhui. “Song Of The Salmon”. Oregon State University Media Production, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-_QmbK95Mk 
 
Whitebear, Luhui. “Disrupting Systems Of Oppression By Re-Centering Indigenous Feminisms”. Persistence Is Resistance: Celebrating 50 Years Of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies. Ed. Julie Shayne. University of Washington, 2020. 
 

2019

Whitebear, Luhui. “VAWA Reauthorization Of 2013 And The Continued Legacy Of Violence Against Indigenous Women: A Critical Outsider Jurisprudence Perspective”. University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review 9.1 (2019): 75-89. 
Education

PhD: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, OSU
MA: Interdisciplinary Studies, OSU 
BS: Anthropology, OSU
BS: Ethnic Studies, OSU

Service

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 
  • Faculty Mentor, Native American Student Association
  • Faculty Mentor, Gamma Alpha Omega Sorority, Kappa Chapter
  • Faculty Mentor, M.E.Ch.A. (Movimiento Estudiatil Chican@s de Aztlan)  

Profession-based:

  • Indigenous Peoples Caucus Chair, National Women's Studies Association
  • National Tribal Leaders Climate Summit Planning Committee, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (2022, 2024)

Community-based:

  • Tribal Council (Rep at Large), Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation
  • Native American & Alaska Native Advisory Committee, Oregon Department of Education
  • Chair, Corvallis School Board
  • Board Member, Chumash Maritime Association
  • Region 10: Linn, Benton, Lincoln Representative, Oregon School Board Assocation
  • President, Oregon School Board Member of Color Caucus
Professional Affiliations
  • Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
  • Centre for Global Indigenous Futures
  • Gamma Alpha Omega Sorority, Inc.
  • National Women's Studies Association
Honors and Awards
  • Difference, Power, and Oppression Teaching Award. Oregon State University, 2025.
  • 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.

  • Presidents Dissertation Award. Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition. 2021.

  • Outstanding Diversity Advocate Award. Office of Institutional Diversity at Oregon State University. 2019.

  • Student Affairs Service Award. Division of Student Affairs at Oregon State University. 2017.

Courses Taught
  • ES 241: Introduction to Native American Studies
  • ES/WGSS 319: Feminist Decolonizing Methodologies: Social Justice Research
  • ES 345: Native Americans in Oregon
  • ES 360: Indigenous Ocean and Coast
  • ES/WGSS/QS 275: 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: