Contribution short abstract:

University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Professors Charleen Fisher, PhD and Jennifer Adams, MBA will share positionality through social justice, activism, and experiences establishing commonality through service to their Indigenous communities.

Contribution long abstract:

Indigenous faculty from the interior of Alaska will speak about their personal experiences working for and with their communities. Professor Fisher, PhD (Gwich’in) and Professor Adams, MBA (Dene’ and Iñupiaq) will share how relationality and positionality are critical to establishing commonality. This candid discussion will highlight critical elements of capacity building in relevant program planning, implementation, and evaluation of working with Indigenous Dene’ and Iñupiat people in the American colonial context.

Dr. Fisher and Ms. Adams have long careers working in the rural Arctic. Dr. Fisher has worked extensively in the Upper Yukon Flats region and is a Tribal citizen of the Beaver Tribe in Beaver, Alaska. Dr. Fisher has testified on many issues and currently serves on multiple statewide boards in Alaska including the Gwich’in Social and Cultural Institute of Alaska, Gwich’in Council International, the Alaska Humanities Forum and Doyon Ltd. Ms. Adams has worked in the interior of Alaska and is a Tribal citizen of the Allakaket Tribe in Allakaket, Alaska. Ms. Adams has brought over $22 million USD into rural Alaska through grants writing and working with communities to fund critical needs and infrastructure.

Both Fisher and Adams are grounded in their cultures and rely on their values and ancestral practices to find purposeful commonality in program development that connects outcomes and outputs to the needs of their communities. Learn about the resulting tools and products that communities then own, which lead to increased capacity and resilience. These ancestral cultural practices drive application, relevance, and program design.