CNAIS Welcomes Three New Native Faculty to our Core Faculty Community

The Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies is proud to announce the addition of three distinguished Native scholars to its core faculty community for the fall semester of 2024. 

Joining the CNAIS Core Faculty are:

Vanessa Racehorse, J.D. (Shoshone-Bannock, Cherokee Nation, and Shoshone-Paiute), Associate Professor of Law whose work focuses on American Indian & Indigenous Peoples law, human rights, international law, and environmental justice. 

Dr. Kelsey John (Diné), Assistant Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies. She studies interspecies learning in tribal communities, with a focus on equine-human interactions and Native American horse cultures/histories. She finds her theoretical locations within BIPOC feminisms, Indigenous studies, human-animal interaction, Diné Studies, and foundations of education. 

Dr. Jaquetta Shade-Johnson (Cherokee), Assistant Professor in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric. Her research at the intersections of cultural rhetorics, Indigenous studies, and environmental humanities is primarily focused on how Indigenous communities make meaning through rhetorical, embodied, and storied relationships with the land. 

The addition of these remarkable scholars furthers CNAIS’s commitment to advancing Native and Indigenous scholarship while providing students with the opportunity to engage deeply with diverse Indigenous perspectives. 

CNAIS extends a warm welcome to Professors Racehorse, John, and Shade-Johnson and looks forward to the innovative and impactful work they will bring to our campus.