Macalester is on the ancestral homeland of the Dakota people and the Twin Cities are home to a large and vibrant Indigenous community. Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students at Macalester can benefit from coursework focused on Indigenous issues, on-campus events, and internship and volunteer opportunities at Indigenous-led organizations in the Twin Cities and beyond.
Indigenous students and alumni are active members of their communities and push Macalester to be a better place. Indigenous students at Mac have organized events including: pow wows, panel events on Native identity, blood quantum, and community, and community meals sharing Indigenous foods.
The student organization Proud Indigenous Peoples for Education (PIPE) has made instrumental contributions to the Macalester community with their activism. PIPE helped compose the widely used land acknowledgement, advocated for the representation of Tribal Nations flags in Cafe Mac and during Commencement, and actively pushed for the renaming of the Humanities building.
Connect with PIPE at [email protected] or on Instagram @pipe_at_mac
Classes on Native American and Indigenous communities, politics, and histories can be found in the Anthropology, Linguistics, Sociology, History, American Studies, Environmental Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, and Spanish and Portuguese departments. Students can learn from several Indigenous professors at Macalester across academic disciplines.
Professor Phillips (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe) teaches courses on Native history and the history of the American West. Her current research centers Ojibwe activism, environmentalism, and tourism. Check out the 60-Second Syllabus overview of her class “American Indian History since 1871!”
Professor Brisbois (White Earth Ojibwe) teaches courses on organic chemistry and synthesis, with an emphasis on student-faculty collaborative research projects leveraging the power of chemical synthesis to innovate known reactions, invent new reactions, and construct previously unknown molecules.
Professor Sailiata ‘06 (Samoan) researches and teaches Critical Indigenous Studies with an emphasis on Oceania, transnational feminisms, social movements, film/new media, U.S. imperialism, law and the environment.
Professor Sleeper ‘11 (Cherokee Nation) teaches courses on the intersection of music and language, by using new methodologies for integrating musical and linguistic data in structural linguistics, sociocultural linguistics, and language revitalization.
Professor Fish (Tuscarora Nation) teaches courses in Indigenous Psychology, Cultural Psychology, and Qualitative Methods. Her most recent research examined the use of digital storytelling as an intervention tool to promote identity and wellness among Native people in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Duluth.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recently awarded Macalester a $1 million grant. Combined with a financial commitment from the college, the generous grant from the nation’s largest supporter of arts and humanities will enable Macalester to create a multi-faceted initiative dedicated to engagement with and scholarship around Indigenous people, culture and history.
Minnesota and the Twin Cities are home to many vibrant Indigenous communities, including seven Ojibwe reservations, four Dakota communities, and a strong Ho-Chunk presence. At Macalester, students can take advantage of Indigenous community events, businesses along the American Indian Cultural Corridor, and internship and volunteer opportunities at Indigenous-led and Indigenous-serving organizations.
Native American and Indigenous alumni have made contributions in the fields of journalism, art, film, education, and more.
We welcome your questions and conversation about the Indigenous Community at Macalester and in the surrounding Twin Cities. Reach out to our team!
