Weaving Narratives: @indigedocscholars (Re)Writing Academia

WEAVING NARRATIVES: @INDIGEDOCSCHOLARS (RE)WRITING ACADEMIA

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THE WCIDS ZINE

J’SHON LEE

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Dził Łigai Si'án N'dee Their Hearts in Mine

MIRTHA GARCIA, PH.D. Mexicana Jaliscience

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Nourish the Body, Mind, and Spirit

HEAVEN SEPULVEDA Akimel O’Odham & Xalychidom Piipaash

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Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Indigenous Scholar

ALYCIA DE MESA Apache of Chihuahua, MX, mestiza, Japanese descent

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Proof

HEATHER ROMERO MERCIECA

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Caxcan (Juchipila River Valley), Scottish, Maltese Far More to the Story

S-CUMA:CIDDAM Onk Akimel O'odham, Tohono O'odham, Hualapai Haṣañ kaj

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BOBBI L. FREDERICK Húŋkpati Dakota

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Indigenous Art

DR. MICHELE CLARK Chicana, Filipina, Mixed Race

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Self Care, Wild Hair

TAINA DIAZ-REYES Taino, Maya, Huichol

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Song of a Sonoran Sirena

MIRIAM THEOBALD-DESCHINE Diné

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Finding Hózhǫ́

NICHOLET DESCHINE PARKHURST

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Húŋkpapȟa (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) & Diné From the Desk of Nicholet

CECILIA MAREK Diné, Nimiipuu, Hopi Just a Girl From the Rez

16 DANIELLE D. LUCERO, PH.D.

17 ALAINA GEORGE, PH.D. Diné Nízaad go' t'ádííyáh

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Pueblo of Isleta & Hispano To-Whay, Let’s go!

WEAVING NARRATIVES ISSUE NO. 1

August 2024

In 2022, the Women’s Council of Indigenous Doctoral Scholars (WCIDS) hosted a zine-making workshop celebrating Indigenous stories about Indigenous women’s experiences in graduate and doctoral programs as part of ASU’s Women’s HERstory Month event programming. The outcome of that workshop is this first issue of “Weaving Narratives”.

About the Zine “Weaving Narratives” addresses the disparity of Indigenous scholars in doctoral programs and highlights current Indigenous students in higher education as a form of healing, creating kinship, and (re)writing, (re)righting, (re)riteing (Tuhiwai Smith, 2012; Risling Baldy, 2018) narratives to center Indigenous voices.

Our first issue includes stories from our WCIDS community about their academic journeys, personal perseverance and resilience, and highlights their cultural backgrounds that contributed to their successes in higher education. We hope you enjoy our stories told in our own words and ways!

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Through relaxation

r i u s o h N the

Through indu

l ge m e nt

Mind, Body, and Spirit

Dust off an old board game or video game and get lost in the challenge

Tell yourself and others your appreciation for yourself and them

Begin an adventure by living vicariously in a book you’ve been wanting to read

a se all a e h k y urcl ma app p l or wi s h ok hat nse o C al t r se e m f you o

Live your day out as the main character that you are

Write down 5 accomplishments you completed this year and reward yourself for each one

By: Mirtha Garcia

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The pressures of my dissertation felt like the weight of the world on my shoulders. my hair started falling out. I first realized when I saw piles of hair that clumped along the side of my desk chair. I was unknowingly twisting and pulling the same patch of locks over and over as the stress of deadlines overwhelmed me.

My research journey led to a moment of stress so powerful that I was truly losing parts of myself and my identity. I tousled my hair in the mirror to find the spots where it had grown thin. I mourned those empty patches and what they symbolized – years seemingly wasted in a system that didn’t want to let me leave with a degree. I started to take long walks, slow down, and stretch my body. I nourished myself with gratitude for my family, meals with friends, and some expensive Instagram ad hair serum that didn’t quite work. I still have the patches and they might never grow back but, at least, I slowed down.

(my hair has told other versions of myself too. i spent my teen years dying it with cheap box chemicals.

Then chemically relaxing it hoping that I would look more professional. that time I ran outside to play, and wasps flew in my hair and my mom pulled them out one by one. my first grey that I search for in the mirror every morning just to confirm what I already know…I’m getting old. that time we moved to an all-white school and the nurses blamed the “dirty Mexican girls” for the recent lice outbreak. Spoiler alert: i did bring the lice but that’s besides the point!)

Michele Clark identifies as multi-racial, Filipinx, Chicanx. She graduated with her PhD in environmental life sciences from ASU in 2020. Most of her work focuses on racial equity in STEM education. Her international research examines human relationships with plant communities, forests, and grasslands.

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This PhD has journey, in all the ways it could be.

Walking numerous miles thinking over theory and methods,

praying for guidance, and grounding myself in nature.

Sometimes these were short walks, sometimes entire days.

Sometimes at home, sometimes far away. But Shimá Nahasdzáán

always granting peace, strength, and energy to persevere.

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About

S D I C W The Women’s Council of Indigenous Doctoral Scholars is an organization at Arizona State University geared toward fostering a supportive community by, for, and with Indigenous doctoral students at any stage in their doctoral journey. Follow us on social media to learn more about how to get involved.

STAY CONNECTED

@IndigeDocScholars

IndigeDocScholars@gmail.com @WomensCouncilofIndigenousDoctoralScholars

Editors Cecilia Marek & J’Shon Lee