Cora Scott
Pronouns: they/them
Research Mentor(s): Rebecca Irvine
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG) / Other
Program:
Authors: Cora Scott
Session: Session 7: 4:40 pm – 5:30 pm
Poster: 46
Abstract
The Protect Our Indigenous Communities task force aims to research the causes, effects, and factors that surround the MMIWG2S crisis. The MMIWG2S crisis is an epidemic of Native/Alaskan women, girls, and two spirit people going missing and/or being murdered, often by non-indigenous people. My focus within this project surrounded how indigenous groups work to preserve their culture and community despite the MMIWG2S crisis and others that they face. I focused on how powwows, art, and activism have helped to support native communities, and also their relation to the crisis itself. I attended both the Michigan State and University of Michigan powwows, an exhibit at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), and looked into small businesses owned by native people. Beyond this, our task force has made a website and social media page. This page will discuss factors surrounding the MMIWG2S crisis, films or books that focus on the topic, and upcoming events or protests. My job regarding the social media page and website was to create graphics that would allow us to engage the audience in a visual way, but still inform them of the different things we want to educate them on. These graphics typically consist of some kind of image related to indigenous cultures, with a small–but powerful–fact next to/on it. Ultimately, my focus within this task force has been to focus on the maintaining of native communities despite mistreatment they face, and help to create a visual platform that informs and encourages the public to not only learn about the crisis and mistreatment that indigenous communities face, but also encourage them to do something about it.
