Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy highlights the experiences and narratives emerging from Indigenous mothers in the academy who are negotiating their roles in multiple contexts. The essays in this volume contribute to the broader higher education literature and the literature on Indigenous representation in the academy, filling a longtime gap that has excluded Indigenous women scholar voices. This book covers diverse topics such as the journey to motherhood, lessons through motherhood, acknowledging ancestors and grandparents in one’s mothering, how historical trauma and violence plague the past, and balancing mothering through the healing process. More specific to Indigenous motherhood in the academy is how culture and place impacts mothering (specifically, if Indigenous mothers are not in their traditional homelands as they raise their children), how academia impacts mothering, how mothering impacts scholarship, and how to negotiate loss and other complexities between motherhood and one’s role in the academy.
ROBIN ZAPE-TAH-HOL-AH MINTHORN is an associate professor of educational leadership, director of the EdD program, and Director of Indigenous education initiatives at the University of Washington, Tacoma. She is a citizen of the Kiowa tribe and descendent of Apache, Umatilla, Nez Perce and Assiniboine tribes. She is the coeditor of Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education and Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education (Rutgers University Press).
HEATHER J. SHOTTON is an associate professor and the department chair of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. She is also the director of Indigenous Education Initiatives. She is an enrolled citizen of the Wichita & Affiliated Tribes. Shotton is coeditor of
Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education,
Beyond College Access: Indigenizing Programs for Student Success, and
Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education (Rutgers University Press).
CHRISTINE A. NELSON is an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Denver in Colorado. She is of the Diné and Laguna Pueblo tribes of the southwest.
“This book on Indigenous Motherhood eloquently weaves together the beauty, strength, and resilience of those who transform academic spaces for the benefit of Indigenous students, families, and communities. This is the book I yearned for as a graduate student and Indigenous mother-scholar.”
— Jennifer Brant
"
Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy is a brilliantly felt and witnessed act of collective Indigenous scholarship from a fiercely honest new generation of teachers and intellectual leaders who affirm their whole selves as the heart of nurturing present and future Indigenous generations."
— Dian Million, (Tanana)
“This book on Indigenous Motherhood eloquently weaves together the beauty, strength, and resilience of those who transform academic spaces for the benefit of Indigenous students, families, and communities. This is the book I yearned for as a graduate student and Indigenous mother-scholar.”
— Jennifer Brant
"
Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy is a brilliantly felt and witnessed act of collective Indigenous scholarship from a fiercely honest new generation of teachers and intellectual leaders who affirm their whole selves as the heart of nurturing present and future Indigenous generations."
— Dian Million, (Tanana)
"A much need contribution to Indigenous scholarship,
Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy weaves together rich, powerful stories of Indigenous women who have navigated through the colonized, patriarchal spaces of academia while centering their Indigenous motherhood at the core of their journeys. A very inspirational and critical read for those seeking to understand the experiences of Indigenous women in academia."
— Susana Geliga
