| dc.description.abstract | This research will focus on understanding the personhood of Indigenous women and finding one’s light and autonomy. Here, I build on the work of Leanne Simpson and Laura Harjo about finding one’s light and autonomy and sharing that light in service to Indigenous communities. By utilizing both archival research and the invocation of Indigenous feminist and relationality theories, this paper will examine the key concepts of kin-space-time envelopes, relationality, autonomy, and stories as relatives. The specific material I researched was oral histories from the Doris Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History that are housed in the Western History Collections of the University of Oklahoma Libraries. By utilizing concrete examples from archival research, a better understanding of the context of Indigenous values through time and space will inform current Indigenous women of the power and light that is inherently ours. These stories are relations that teach us about autonomy, relationality, and how to be in the world. | en_US |
