Sasha Maria Suarez

Biography

I’m an interdisciplinary scholar of twentieth century American Indian and Indigenous histories, with a special focus on the Great Lakes. I received my PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in 2020 and my dissertation, “Gakaabikaang: White Earth Ojibwe Women and the Creation of Indian Minneapolis in the Twentieth Century” examines the gendered practices of place-making, community organizing, and activism among White Earth Ojibwe in an urban environment from the 1920s to the 1970s. I am currently in the process of working on my first manuscript, which centers on the labor of White Earth Ojibwe women in creating Ojibwe and intertribal community infrastructure in Minneapolis in the twentieth century.

My research interests include Indigenous social movements and urban histories, with a specificity on Indigenous cultural, communal, and political continuity. I’m also interested in the gender dynamics at play in multiple different forms of Indigenous activism.

As a White Earth Ojibwe descendent, I have great interest in how the construction of historical narratives (past and present) are made accessible or inaccessible to my nation and urban Indigenous communities. To this end, I find great value in public history. I have worked on curatorial and exhibition teams at the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota History Center to construct exhibitions on Red Lake Ojibwe and Indigenous experiences with mass incarceration. I am also interested in the protection of Ojibwemowin (Ojibwe language) and other Indigenous languages through which we can better understand the places we live and work and their long histories and relationships to Indigenous peoples.

Education

Ph.D.; in American Studies: University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 2020
B.A.; in American Indian Studies: University of Minnesota Morris, 2013

Selected Publications

• “Indigenizing Minneapolis: Building American Indian Community Infrastructure in the Mid-Twentieth Century,” in Indian Cities: Histories of Indigenous Urbanism, eds. Kent Blansett, Cathleen D. Cahill, and Andrew Needham (under contract)

History Courses

• History 190 – Intro to American Indian History – Syllabus 2023 (pdf)
• History 201 – Race and Belonging in the Midwest – Syllabus 2020 (pdf)
• History 227 – Explorations in the History of Race and Ethnicity: “American Indians in the City: 1890s – 1970s” – Syllabus 2022 (pdf)
• History 490 – American Indian History – Syllabus 2021 (pdf)