Research and Scholarship
OTHER INDIGENOUS INITATIVES AND Research labS/Projects on campus
At Northwestern, we have research labs and projectds on campus. If you are interested in a specific research lab or proejct on campus please reach out to them directly!
- Native American and Indigenous Initatives: https://www.northwestern.edu/native-american-and-indigenous-peoples/
- Research for Indigenous Social Action & Requity (RISE) Center: https://sites.northwestern.edu/rise/
- STRONG Manoomin Collective: https://www.manoom.in/
- Learning in Places: https://learninginplaces.org/
- Indigenous STEAM: https://indigenoussteam.org/
- Archive Chicago: Indigenous Art, Activism, and Placemaking: sites.northwestern.edu/archivechicago
If you are an affiliate faculty member whose research website link is missing from this please email Kat at KatherineCastillo@northwestern.edu
CROSS DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
The Center operates as a hub for multi-disciplinary, collaborative work informed by and responsive to Native American and Indigenous nations, communities, and organizations. We have 4 research hubs:
- Global Indigeneities
- Nationhood, Law, & Governance
- Environments, Health & Social Welfare
- Communities, Culture & Activism
RESEARCH WITH COMMUNITIES
The Center commits to developing and promoting reciprocal and sovereignty-affirming relationships and partnerships with Native American and Indigenous communities. This includes the local urban Native community in Chicago and surrounding areas as well as partnerships with Native American serving organizations such as the Chicagoland American Indian Community Collaborative (CAICC). We also have partnerships with Tribal Nations in the Midwest throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. Furthermore, CNAIR works to build reciprocal and sovereignty-affirming relationships with Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities across Turtle Island and globally.
CNAIR RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS
2024-2025
- Cultural Resource Management and Compliance at Northwestern University, Eli Suzukovich III, PhD. (Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa/Cree) Faculty, Northwestern University, Program in Environmental Policy and Culture
- Ella Quien Sabía: The Contemplative Performance and Poetry of María Sabina, Daisy Donaji Matias
- Graduate Student, Department of Performance Studies, Northwestern University
- The Native Influence on Early American Music, Brandi Berry Benson, Music, Faculty, Northwestern University
- Southern Eco-Solidarities: A Syllabus on Mvskoke and Black Land Resistance, Kai Chase, Graduate Student, Northwestern University, English/Indigenous Studies and Black Studies
- Learning through the more-than-human beings' eyes and ears in "Benko Enuuro" (Eyes of an Ant) by Morela Maneiro and "The Falling Sky" by Davi Kopenawa, Anamaria Leon, Graduate Student, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University, Spanish and Portuguese Department
- Language and Placemaking in Oaxacalifornia Across Zapotec Pueblos Originarios, Kimberly Espinosa: Bi' Xtidxa' (Zapotec), Undergraduate Student, Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS), Northwestern University and Jennifer Salvador: Ya’lhalhj (Zapotec), Undergraduate Student, Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS), Northwestern University
2023-2024
- Implementation of Educational Reform Bills” Kadin Mills (Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa First Generation Descendent) Medill School of Journalism Topic: “Caring for our Relatives: Trauma Informed Reporting in Minneapolis”
- Northwestern University Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance (NU NAISA) NAISA Knowledge Keeper Committee Topic: “Native American and Indigenous Archives at Northwestern” U
- Alyssa Miller (Cherokee Nation) Medical Student Feinberg School of Medicine Topic: “The Burden of Inequitable Access to Eye Care in Native American Populations in the United States: A Geospatial Perspective”
- Jackson Krause Department of Anthropology Weinberg College Topic: “In the Shadow of the Water Mountain: Sacred Waterscapes, Water Management, and Indigenous Knowledge Systems at Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, México”
- Stephen McNabb Department of Spanish & Portuguese Weinberg College Topic: “Writing the Runa: Indigenous Narrative Practice in Andean Literature (1941-1984)”
- Cordelia Rizzo Performance Studies School of Communication Topic: “Weave to Stitch: Indigenous Studies as a Critical Lens “ project support, declined tuition and stipend support*
- Heather Menefee Department of History Weinberg College Topic: “Real Life or Long-Lasting Death: Dakota People’s Economic Life under Occupation” project support, declined tuition and stipend support*
- Beth Redbird (Oglala Lakota/ Oklahoma Choctaw) Associate Professor Department of Sociology Weinberg College Topic: “Tribal Constitutions”
- Reynaldo Morales Cardenas Assistant Professor Medill School of Journalism Topic: “Indigenous Research Methods, Nexus Research and Rights-Based Approaches”
- Stephen Hersh Senior Lecturer Medill School of Journalism Topic: “Native-Authored Children’s Books: Effects on Child and Parent Identity”
- Kelly Wisecup Professor Department of English Weinberg College Native American and Indigenous Studies Curriculum Enrichment Faculty Fellowship Indigenous Archives and Public Humanities Co-Taught Graduate Seminar Co-taught by Kelly Wisecup and Rose Miron (Director, D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies, Newberry Library)
2022-2023
- Kadin Mills, Undergraduate Student, 3rd Year, Medill School of Journalism
- Kayla Giger, Medical Student, 4th Year, Feinberg School of Medicine
- Syd Gonzalez, PhD Student, 3rd Year, Department of Anthropology
- Caitlin Jacobs, Medical Resident, Feinberg School of Medicine, "Untold Stories: Interactions of Urban Native Peoples with Reproductive Healthcare"
- Heather Menefee, PhD Candidate, 4th Year, Department of History (Award deferred for AY23-24)
2021-2022
- Jorge Coronado (Faculty, Spanish & Portuguese) - “Literary Practices, Activists, and Intellectuals in the Andes and the Caribbean, 1890-1940"
- Beth Redbird (Faculty, Sociology) explores “Access to Tribal Justice: The Co-Evolution of Courts and Citizenship.”
- Nitasha Sharma (Faculty, African American Studies and Asian American Studies) focuses on “The Black Pacific.”
- Jordan Gurneau (Environmental Engineering) Topic: Manoomin (wild rice), climate change, and TEK
- Kristina E. Lee (Sociology), Topic: State responses to international frameworks on race and human rights
- Andrea Rosengarten (History), "Remapping Namaqualand: Negotiating Ethnicity and Territory in Colonial Southwestern Africa, 18th-21st Centuries"
- Carrie Stallings (Sociology), Topic: Policing and Native American Reservations
- Caitlin Jacobs, Medical Resident, Feinberg School of Medicine, "Untold Stories: Interactions of Urban Native Peoples with Reproductive Healthcare" (Award deferred for AY22-23)