Descriptions of a Tree Outside the Forest: An Indigenous Woman's Experiences in the Academy

This article is a piece of my story. It offers examples of both difficult and inspiring moments that I have encountered as an Indigenous woman graduate student and as an assistant professor in a predominantly white institution. The first part of this article depicts overt acts of discrimination that occurred when I was a graduate student at a Big Ten university. I also share with readers how community members' lives served as role models in finding answers to difficult and trying times. The second half of the article describes events that have taken place at my current institution, where I am an assistant professor. These events illustrate a campus climate that openly discourages activism and supports the privileged voice within the colonialist system.

I was at first resistant to writing about my experiences as a graduate student—describing the uncomfortable positions I found myself in and sharing tough situations I am currently experiencing as an assistant professor in a predominantly white institution. Writing about these events call to life the pain, humiliation, and feelings of inadequacy that I have endured and continue to encounter. And yet, I acknowledge with great admiration those who have gone before me, how their stories and their lives gave and give me strength to get through the difficulties. They empower me.

In order to write about these experiences I must first contextualize them in a brief history of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. It is a history that I carry with me and that directly influences my present. The Menominee have successfully fought and maintained their original homeland despite numerous attempts by the U.S. government to remove, allot, relocate, and eventually terminate the tribe. Having been terminated in 1954 under President Eisenhower's termination policy, the tribe committed itself to actively organizing and working to restore the reservation to federal status. With relentless persistence the Menominee regained federal recognition in 1972 when President Nixon privately signed the Menominee Restoration Act into law. Without the staunch support of Menominee women, the tribe would not be where it is today. At critical times throughout Menominee history, women have come to the rescue. In 1925 the Menominee Chapter of the League of Women Voters helped force the federal government to abandon the idea of allotting Menominee lands. They outlined a program defining tribal rights to mineral resources and keeping unallotted land for future generations.¹ In 1943 the depletion of the male workforce because of World War II threatened the lumber mill; however, fifty women stepped forward and went to work in the mill, and many more helped eradicate blister rust in the forest, thus saving the mill and our precious trees.Our forests and virgin pine stands provide us with a marketable economy and currently place us on the map as a distinguished, successful model of the practice of sustainable environmental development.

In short, I come from committed thinkers and doers who cleverly strategize for our survival and our future—from strong women who step forward fearlessly in times of crisis and from one of the most beautiful places on earth. I am a paper-carrying, recognized Menominee descendent, an activist, and a feminist, and I cannot thrive without trees, especially pine.

For the first few years as a graduate student at a first-rate research institute, I felt like a bare telephone pole, much like the pole Zitkala-Ša describes:

Like a slender tree I had been uprooted from my mother, nature and God. I was shorn of my branches, which had waved in sympathy and love for home and friends. The natural coat of bark which had protected my oversensitive nature was scraped off to the very quick. Now a cold bare pole I seemed to be, planted in a strange earth.²

Adjusting to the environment and observing how to effectively communicate...