Summer Scholars Lunchtime Talks

Join us for two lunchtime talks.

Reimagining Indigenous Female Power

Carmen Ávila reflects on the creative and research process behind her historical novel The Fall of the Rain Kingdoms, inspired by the life of the Indigenous Mexican ruler Lady Six Monkey which took place during the 11th century and was depicted on pre-Hispanic codices. Through this work, Ávila examines the intersections of memory, female power, and literary imagination and combines historical reconstruction with speculative and feminist storytelling to recover the voices of Indigenous women erased from dominant history.

From Battlefield to Classroom

Dinos Pappas explores how education became a central tool of U.S. federal policy toward Native Americans, from 19th-century assimilation campaigns to later movements for self-determination. Drawing on our holdings, he considers government reports, Indian school materials, reform literature and Native student writing and explores how schooling was used to reshape Native identity and how Native communities challenged, adapted and reclaimed education as a space of cultural survival and sovereignty.