Native scholar, writer, and activist Dr. Adrienne Keene will present Carleton’s weekly convocation on Friday, Nov. 4 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. A member of the Cherokee Nation, Keene is passionate about reframing how the world sees contemporary Native cultures. She is the creator and author Native Appropriations (www.nativeappropriations.com), a blog dedicated cultural appropriation and stereotypes of Native peoples in fashion, film, music, and other forms of popular culture.
Dr. Keene’s presentation, entitled "Learning to Lead from Behind a Keyboard: Representations, Activism, and Native Appropriations,” is free and open to the public. Her address will also recorded and archived for online viewing at go.carleton.edu/convo/.
Through her writing and activism, Keene questions and problematizes the ways Indigenous peoples are represented, asking for celebrities, large corporations, and designers to consider the ways they incorporate "Native" elements into their work. She is very interested in the way Native peoples are using social and new media to challenge misrepresentations and present counter-narratives that showcase true Native cultures and identities.
Keene’s blog work has been nominated for the Women’s Media Center Social Media Award (2011), as well as featured in many mainstream media outlets. She earned a PhD in Culture, Communities, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her research focuses on college access for Native (American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian) students and the role of precollege access programs in student success. She has worked closely with the non-profit College Horizons—which assists Native students in the college application process—as a participant, alumna, faculty member, and now researcher. She recently presented the keynote address at the 2015 National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Convocations Committee. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First and College Streets in Northfield.
