Graduate Student, Katie Donlan, Receives an NSF GRFP Award.
Graduate student, Katie Donlan, has been awarded anÌýÌýfor her proposed dissertation research to document, analyze, and engage with the truth and reconciliation process in Maine through a combination of ethnographic and material culture research methods investigating two entities with very different histories and approaches to this process: a grass roots organization seeking restorative justice for violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act that convened the truth and reconciliation (TRC) commission (Wabanaki REACH), and a museum that has undergone a major reorganization to include a Wabanaki director and a Native advisory council (Abbe Museum).Ìý
In her own words, "ÌýMaine is the site of the first government-endorsed truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) in the United States, formed between the state of Maine and Wabanaki tribes.ÌýMy project focuses on theÌýlegacy of the TRC following its conclusion in 2015, and its place within ongoing practices of truth-telling, memory work, and healing in Maine’s enduring settler colonial context. My research will trace the various ways individuals, communities, and institutions in Maine are working to heal their home. This case study offers a fruitful site of research that has received little attention, with impacts reaching far beyond Maine."
Way to go Katie!