The Chikasha Ihoo (Chickasaw Women) Empowerment Series returns 2 p.m., March 26, at the Chickasaw Cultural Center, Sulphur, Oklahoma.
Chickasaw citizen Dr. Elizabeth Rule is the guest speaker of the first session of 2024.
A quarterly event that highlights the accomplishments and perspectives of Chickasaw women, the series features Chickasaw speakers who present on topics related to their studies, experiences and points of view. It sheds light on the unique perspective of Chickasaw women worldwide.
Rule is assistant professor of critical race, gender and culture studies at American University, Washington, D.C. Her research on Indigenous issues has been featured in The Washington Post, “Matter of Fact” with Soledad O’Brien, The Atlantic, Newsy and National Public Radio.
She is also a published author, releasing scholarly articles in the American Quarterly and in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal.
Rule created the “Guide to Indigenous DC,” an app for portable electronic devices which highlights important contributions made by First Americans in select landmarks and sites for which the city is famous.
She has since expanded her work, developing the “Guide to Indigenous Baltimore” and “Guide to Indigenous Maryland.”
Georgetown University Press recently published her first book, “Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation’s Capital.” It analyzes historical and contemporary sites of Indigenous importance in Washington and complements her “Guide to Indigenous DC” mobile app. The book is also an award winner, having earned the Association for Ethnic Studies’ Outstanding Book Award in 2023.
Her book “Reproducing Resistance: Gendered Violence and Indigenous Nationhood,” received the Julien Mezey Award for best dissertation from the Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities in 2020.
Rule is currently in her second year of a three-year Social Impact Fellowship Residency with the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where she is writing a television screenplay titled, “Moon Time.”
She recently went on leave from American University to begin a new political appointment, to New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Chamber, making her the first deputy secretary for First Nations in the history of the state. It is a policymaking position dedicated to the support of Indigenous self-determination and well-being.
Rule continues her work as an educator by presenting her research and delivering invited talks on First American issues. More than 100 public speaking engagements and interviews have taken her across three continents and to seven countries.
Rule earned her undergraduate degree from Yale University and her master’s and doctorate in American studies from Brown University.
The Chikasha Ihoo (Chickasaw Women) Empowerment Series is open to the public at no charge. Registration and more information are available at Chickasaw.net/Empowerment.
Save the date for the second series event of the year, Aug. 27, at the Chickasaw Cultural Center, 867 Cooper Memorial Drive, Sulphur.
For more information, contact the Chickasaw Nation Literary Arts Division at (580) 436-7282 or email CreativeArts@Chickasaw.net.