History American Indian Studies
Twin Cities
Award Year
2015
University Award
Distinguished McKnight University Professors
Section A
, Location 14
Indigenous Sovereignty and the State
Jean O’Brien’s pioneering scholarship on Indigenous survival and self-determination within the settler state stands at the forefront of a new global approach to Indigenous studies. Her work has overturned conventional accounts of Indigenous history in the northeastern U.S., challenging national narratives that have written Indigenous peoples out of existence. She is co-founder and served as second president of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, the premier association for global Indigenous studies.