Anne Luna-Gordinier, AIS JD/MA Alumni 2004, has won the Western Social Science Association (WSSA) Student Paper 2012 Competition and the Vine Deloria Award for 2012. 

Anne received first place prize for a paper submitted by a graduate student.  The paper Anne submitted to WSSA is titled Empowering the Spirit:  Conducting Ethical Research With Two-Spirit People.  The ABSTRACT is listed below.

 This article addresses the theoretical and methodological issues related to researching with, for, and about two-spirit people.  This is done within examinations of heteronormativity and by exploring the ideal of queering and decolonizing qualitative methodologies.  The ethical problems inherent in a qualitative research methodology are addressed.  Issues with data collection, analysis, and representation are particularly important when working with two-spirit people.  In closing there is a discussion of who ought to be engaging in research with, by, and for two-spirit people, and approaches that may best address the issue.

Anne’s AIS Committee Chair was Mary Jo Tippeconnic Fox, and she was the first graduate of the JD/MA program in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona.  Her 2004 Thesis was Stalking in Indian country: Enhancing tribal sovereignty through culturally appropriate remedies.  Anne Luna-Gordinier is currently a PhD student in the sociology program at Howard University in Washington D.C.  

Please join American Indian Studies in congratulating Anne Luna-Gordinier.  She is the first Native American, first American Indian Studies Program student, and first University of Arizona student to receive this prestigious award.  (Mike Simpson won the Vine Deloria Award from WSSA in 2011.)

(If you have any AIS Alumni News to share please send it to aisp@email.arizona.edu).

American Indian Studies also congratulates Anne Luna-Gordinier, AIS JD/MA Alumni 2004 for her second award from the Western Social Science Association (WSSA);  she has been awarded the Vine Deloria Award for 2012.  Her paper entitled "Indigenous Women’s Leadership in Urban America:  A Historical Materialist Analysis" ;  her abstract is listed below.  Her first award from WSSA was for the overall Student Paper Competition for 2012 for her paper titled Empowering the Spirit:  Conducting Ethical Research With Two-Spirit People.
 
ABSTRACT for "Indigenous Women’s Leadership in Urban America:  A Historical Materialist Analysis"
As a result of industrialization and federal relocation policies, Native Americans found themselves in increasingly urban settings.  Indigenous people had to find ways to survive in urban areas while still trying to maintain their cultures.  Urban Indian centers have helped to organize cultural activities and provide services to people in need. Native women have empowered themselves and their communities through their work with urban Indian centers. This research addresses the historical effects of patriarchy on Native American women’s power, the effects of gender, culture and ethnicity on leadership; and how institutions and communities can support Native women’s leadership in urban settings.  Even given 500 years of genocide that Native women have faced, they continue to survive, organize, and take care of their people.
 
Graduate students from the University of Arizona American Indian Studies Graduate Interdisciplinary Program (GIDP) have received this award two years in a row.  Michael W. Simpson won the Vine Deloria Award from WSSA in 2011.  Michael’s paper was titled:  American Indians and the United States’ National Narrative:  Application of JUDGEMENT and Content Analysis to Current U.S. High School History Textbooks”.
 
Please join American Indian Studies in celebrating the achievements that have been made by our graduate students.