Corntassel presents NSU Sequoyah Fellow lecture

(Tahlequah, Oklahoma) -- Dr. Jeff Corntassel, recently named Northeastern State Universitys 2017 Sequoyah Fellow, will present a public lecture on Monday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. in the Webb Auditorium on NSUs Tahlequah campus. His lecture, titled From Mauna Kea to Standing Rock, will focus on pathways to Indigenous resurgence and land-based pedagogies.

The Sequoyah Fellow program provides the opportunity for the NSU College of Liberal Arts to recognize an outstanding scholar in the field of Native American studies. During their fellowship year, recipients are given the opportunity to share their expertise with the NSU community. Past Sequoyah Fellows have included former Chief of the Cherokee Nation Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Nation Senior Policy Advisor Dr. Neil Morton and University of Arkansas Dean of Law Stacy Leeds.

Corntassel is an associate professor and director of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria and received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Arizona in 1998. His research and teaching interests include sustainable self-determination and Indigenous political mobilization. His research has been published in Alternatives, Decolonization, Human Rights Quarterly and Social Science Journal.

Corntassel's first book, titled Forced Federalism: Contemporary Challenges to Indigenous Nationhood (2008, University of Oklahoma Press), examines how Indigenous nations in the U.S. have mobilized politically as they encounter new threats to their governance from state policymakers. His next book is an edited volume in collaboration with Kanaka Maoli, professor in Indigenous Politics at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and is titled Everyday Acts of Resurgence: People, Places, Practices.

Corntassel was the first to represent the Cherokee Nation as a delegate to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples and strives to honor his family and nation as a teacher, activist and scholar.

In addition to his public presentation, Corntassel will present to classes and meet with local scholars during his visit.

Dr. Corntassel is a leading scholar on Indigenous sovereignty and his public lecture will be inspiring and uplifting, Dr. Phillip Bridgmon, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said. He will provide us with a blueprint for achieving social justice.

For more information, please contact Dr. Anita Thompson, assistant dean for the College of Liberal Arts, at hylton@nsuok.edu or 918-444-4504.