“The Roots of Our Resistance: Indigenous Peacemaking and the Current Crisis” IPRA/PJSA | 2020 PJSA Conference

Monday, September 21st, 2020 | 3:00-5:00 PM Pacific | 6:00-8:00 PM Eastern

Dr. Kelli Te Maihāroa (Waitaha, Ngāti Rārua Ātiawa) is the Tumuaki Te Kahui Whetu/Director of Māori Research at Otego Polytechnic in Aotearoa New Zealand. Along with John Synott and Heather Devere, Kelli was co-editor of Peacebuilding and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Experiences and Strategies for the 21st Century (Springer, 2016). She has published on Māori education initiatives, cultural revitalization, and Indigenous peace traditions. Kelli is the great granddaughter of the Te Maihāroa, a Māori prophet from Te Waipounamu, the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. She has served on the Board of the Asia-Pacific Peace Research Association and as an Executive and Council member of the International Peace Research Association.

Dr. Matt Mogekwu is Associate Professor and Chair of the Journalism Department in the Park School of Communications, Ithaca College. Prior to coming to Ithaca, Matt taught at Bowie State University, Maryland and has served as faculty member and administrator at universities in South Africa, Swaziland, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. His research has focused on media and peace building; international communication; press freedom and sustainable development in Africa; and capacity building for media practitioners in developing countries. He is a member of the International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR), the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the African Studies Association (ASA), and the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC). In addition, he was a founding member of the Africa Peace Research and Education Association and served as an Executive and Council member of the International Peace Research Association.

Dr. James Fenelon is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples Studies at California State University San Bernardino, in the USA. His latest book, Redskins? Sports Mascots, Indian Nations and White Racism (Routledge, 2016), was written to address compelling social issues concerning Native Nations, cultural sovereignty, and representation. He is co-author (with Thomas D. Hall) of Indigenous Peoples and Globalization (Routledge, 2015), which builds on his prior work in Culturicide, Resistance and Survival of the Lakota/Sioux Nation(Routledge, 1998). Professor Fenelon has published numerous articles and book chapters on Indigenous Peoples and genocide, and on climate change wars and Indigenous peoples. He is Lakota/Dakota from the Standing Rock Nation, and has taught internationally on urban inequality, social movements, Native Nations, race, and racism. He is an advocate for social justice around the world.

Dr. Adriana Anacona Muñoz is an Indigenous woman of the Yanakuna People of Colombia. A sociologist with a master’s degree in Public Policy from Universidad del Valle, Adriana holds a doctorate in History and Art with specialty in Peace and Conflict Management from the University of Granada-Spain. She has worked with the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC), and as a member of the GISOHA Research Group of the Santiago de Cali University. She is also part of the Management and Public Policies Group of the Universidad del Valle, and of the Ibero-American Research Network for Imperfect Peace. Her areas of research include Among her lines of research include history and gender; social organizations and movements; peacebuilding and pacifist empowerment; and the design, evaluation and analysis of rights-based public policies.

Sarah Fontaine-Sinclair’s Anishinaabe name is Nimizhien-nibikwe, meaning “the light that dances on the water.” She is an award-winning speaker who advocates for our environment, participating in the Lake Winnipeg Water Walk and marches for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women as well as is a leader in the #FridaysforFuture education for climate change movement. She also plays the flute, soccer, and performs in improv and musical theatre productions. When she has time, she is a grade eight student in Winnipeg School Division.

Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair is Anishinaabe (St. Peter’s/Little Peguis) and Professor in the Department of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba. He is a regular commentator on Indigenous issues nationally on CTV, CBC, and APTN and internationally in The Guardian and Al-Jazeera America. His written work can be found in the pages of The Exile Edition of Native Canadian Fiction and Drama, newspapers like The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and The Winnipeg Free Press, and online with CBC Books: Canada Writes. Niigaan is the co-editor of the award-winning Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water (Highwater Press, 2011) Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories (Michigan State University Press, 2013) and The Winter We Danced: The Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement (Arbeiter Ring, 2014). He is also the Editorial Director of The Debwe Series with Portage and Main Press.