Ethnic Studies

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