Just Futures Roundtable on Indigenous Pedagogies

Dr. Chadwick Allen, “Centering Indigenous Methodologies”. Chadwick Allen is Professor of English and Adjunct Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington, where he also serves as the Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement. Author of the books Blood Narrative: Indigenous Identity in American Indian and Maori Literary and Activist Texts, Trans-Indigenous: Methodologies for Global Native Literary Studies, and Earthworks Rising: Mound Building in Native Literature and Arts, he is a former editor for the journal Studies in American Indian Literatures, a past president of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA), and a founding co-director for the UW’s Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies (CAIIS).

Dr. Sandra Barton, “What is the Standard Model of Indigenous Learning?” Sandra (Sandee) Barton, Ph. D., an enrolled member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, is the author of the Standard Model of Indigenous Learning (SMIL). Moving home to Wisconsin after 35 years as a Geology professor, Dr. Barton was hired as the first Training and Improvement Coordinator for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and tasked with building a training department. Sandee develops and presents professional development workshops in various settings across the country with continued research in the implementation of the SMIL in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Her current article, A Reflective Revisit of the Standard Model of Indigenous Learning (SMIL): Turning a Theoretical Model into Application is in the review process.

Dr. Américo Mendoza-Mori, “Indigeneity and Latinidad: Educational Planning and Future of Latinx Studies in the United States.” Dr. Américo Mendoza-Mori is a Lecturer in Latinx Studies and Faculty Director of the Latinx Studies Working Group at Harvard University. His research focuses on Latin American, U.S. Latinx, and Indigenous communities. Mendoza-Mori’s work has appeared in a variety of academic journals, has been presented at the United Nations, and has been featured in The New York Times, Library of Congress, a TEDx talk, BBC, NPR, Remezcla. He has been involved in educational and community-based initiatives in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the US.

endawnis Spears, “Creating and Nurturing Indigenous Learning Environments: Genocide Education and the Upstander Academy.” endawnis Spears (Diné/ Ojibwe/ Chickasaw/ Choctaw) is an educator working in the public humanities.  She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from the University of Denver and has worked for the Heard Museum, Museum of Northern Arizona, Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center and is the 2021-2023 Tribal Community Member in Residence at Brown University.  endawnis is  the Co-Director of the Upstander Academy, and a founding member of the Akomawt Educational Initiative, an Indigenous education and interpretive consultancy for museums, K-12 schools, and colleges/universities.  Originally from Camp Verde, Arizona, she lives in the homelands of her husband and four children, unceded Narragansett territory, in south county, Rhode Island. 

Tesia Zientek, “Bodéwadmi Ndaw: Potawatomi (Re)Connection”Tesia Zientek is a Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal citizen. With help from a Gates Millennium Scholarship, she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 2009 with her B.A. in English. After graduation, Tesia spent two years teaching and running an afterschool program in Puerto Rico before pursuing her M.A. in Education Policy from Stanford University in 2013. To celebrate her achievements, Tesia has received the Howard Yackus Memorial, NextGen 30 Under 30, and NCAIED Native American 40 Under 40 awards. In 2015, she established her tribe’s first Department of Education, where she continues to serve as Director.

She serves as President of the National Indian Education Association, President of the Oklahoma Council for Indian Education, and Vice President of the Tribal Education Departments National Assembly. Since 2012, Tesia has also served as Potawatomi Leadership Program Advisor, building curriculum for the Harvard Honoring Nations Award-winning internship program.

Moderated by Christine DeLucia, Associate Professor of History at Williams College. This event is sponsored by the Williams College Just Futures Grant, the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Oakley Center.