We appreciate our contributors!
These courses were made possible by the
generous contribution of our content advisors.
Our Contributors
Angelina Saraficio
Tohono O’odham
Angelina Saraficio (Tohono O’odham) is an elder with a 40-year career teaching in Tohono O’odham Nation schools. Presently she is the Culture and Language Director for the Baboquivari Unified School District. She has also taught courses for Tohono O’odham Community College. The Amerind Museum has been fortunate to have Ms. Saraficio lead some of our public programs and advise our curatorial team on exhibit content. A published poet, she has written over 80 O’odham language books for children.
Angelica Salcido
Tohono O’odham
Angelica Salcido (Tohono O’odham) has been teaching for ten years in the Baboquivari Unified School District. She has been working to reconnect with her O’odham himdag. She loves to teach her students about O’odham language, himdag (culture), and life.
Amy Spotted Wolf
Tohono O’odham
Amy Spotted Wolf (Tohono O’odham Nation) from the Fresnal Canyon community. She graduated from the University of Arizona studying under the Indigenous Teacher Education Project (ITEP). She is committed to infusing and privileging Indigenous history, language, culture, and knowledge systems into the classroom. She has been working with Indigenous students for seven years. In addition to her education and career, Amy is an active member in her community where she has held position such as Miss Indian Arizona (2020-2021) and a council member of the Tohono O’odham Nation Youth Council.
Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale (Diné)
How Native Lands Were Lost to Colonizers & The Size of the Indigenous Population in the United States
Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale (Diné), is a professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico. The author of “Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita,” two books for young adults, she has also published numerous essays, articles, and book chapters. She has been recognized for her scholarship and service to her nation and community with several awards, including the Rainbow Naatsiilid True Colors for her support and advocacy on behalf of the Navajo LGBTQI, the UNM Sarah Brown Belle award for service to her community, and UNM’s Presidential Award of Distinction. She is the recipient of the Women’s International Study Center Fellowship and the Newberry Consortium of American Indian Studies Fellowship, both in 2019. In 2020, she was awarded UNM’s 6th Annual Community Engaged Research Lectureship. Dr. Denetdale is the chair of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission and has served on the Commission for ten years.
Ms. Christina Faw Faw Goodson
The First Thanksgiving: An Accurate History
My name is Christina “Gichegemi” Faw Faw Goodson. I am Jiwere-Nut’achi/Baxoje (Otoe-Missouria/Iowa) and I am a descendant of the Owl and Wolf clan respectively in my tribes. My first teachers or educators were my parents, grandparents, extended family, and tribal communities. I grew up in Manhattan, KS and Stillwater, OK. I completed my undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Native American Studies and History in 2014. I graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistic Anthropology in 2019. I have worked in Native education and language space at the national, federal, local, and tribal levels for the past eight years, including as a classroom teacher for four years. Outside of work, I enjoy traditional arts and crafts, sewing, going to local dances and spending time with my family.
Dr. Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert
How Many Tribal Governments Are the United States
Dr. Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert is Professor and Head of the Department of American Indian Studies and Professor of History at the University of Arizona. He is an enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe from the village of Upper Munqapi. Centering his research and teaching on Native American history and the history of the American West, he examines the history of American Indian education, the Indian boarding school experience, and American Indians and sport. He is the author of Hopi Runners: Crossing the Terrain between Indian and American (University Press of Kansas, 2018), Education beyond the Mesas: Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 (University of Nebraska Press, 2010), and currently writing a book entitled Modern Encounters of the Hopi Past. In addition to publishing articles and books on Hopi history, he has produced a documentary film — Beyond the Mesas — on the Hopi experience at off-reservation Indian boarding schools, including Sherman Institute, Stewart Indian School, and the Phoenix Indian School.
Dr. Laura Tohe
Arizona’s Most Populous Tribe-The Diné (Navajo)
Laura Tohe is Diné/Navajo. She is Sleepy Rock clan born for the Bitter Water clan. She holds a Ph.D. in Indigenous American Literature. A librettist and an award-winning poet, she has written six books, including an oral history book on the Navajo Code Talkers. Her commissioned libretto, Enemy Slayer, A Navajo Oratorio, was performed by the Phoenix Symphony and Nahasdzaan in the Glittering World was performed in France 2019 and 2021. She is Professor Emerita with Distinction at Arizona State University, is the current Navajo Nation Poet Laureate, and awarded an Academy of American Poetry Fellowship in 2020-2021.