PO Box 485
Bemidji, MN 56619
Office: (218) 751-4967
EIN 38-3653476
Dr. Harry is an associate professor in the Department of Gender, Race, and Identity at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research analyzes the linkages between biotechnology, intellectual property and globalization in relation to Indigenous Peoples’ rights. She has authored numerous articles including “Decolonizing Colonial Constructions of Indigenous Identity: A Conversation Between Debra Harry and Leonie Pihama”, in “The Great Vanishing Act: Blood Quantum and the Future of Native Nations, “Biocolonialism and Indigenous Knowledge in United Nations Discourse,” (2011) 20 Griffith Law Review, “Indigenous Peoples and Gene Disputes” 84 Chicago-Kent Law Review (2009). Dr. Harry is a recipient of the Nevada Department of Education Pesa Namanedu Award (2019), the Seventh Generation Fund Tradition Bearers for Biocultural Diversity Fellowship (2018), the Seventh Generation Fund Good Ancestor Award (2012), and the Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellowship (KNFP-14). Her teaching specialization is in Indigenous Studies, and she is playing a key role in developing Indigenous Studies course offerings at UNR. Dr. Harry earned her Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland under the supervision of renowned Maori scholar, Dr. Linda Tuhiwai Smith. She served as an adjunct professor at UNR in 2013, was hired as a Lecturer III in 2018, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. Dr. Debra Harry is Numu (Kooyooe Tukadu) from Pyramid Lake, Nevada.
Manuel Pino, is a professor of sociology and Director of American Indian Studies at Scottsdale Community College in Scottsdale, Arizona. Along with his contributions to IEN, he also serves on the boards of the Southwest Research and Information Center, Red Rock Foundation, as well as the Laguna Acoma Coalition For A Safe Environment, of which he is a founding member. He has served as a delegate of Indigenous Peoples at United Nations conferences, forums, and summits to include the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Manuel received the 2008 Nuclear Free Future Award for activism in Munich Germany. He has published several book chapters, and articles in academic, environmental, and Indigenous publications in both the U.S. and Canada during his thirty eight plus years of work. Manuel is currently working with former American Indian uranium miners in New Mexico, Arizona, Washington and South Dakota on health issues related to radiation exposure and in Indigenous communities opposing nuclear waste storage and mining on their lands.
Email: manny.pino@scottsdalecc.edu
Sayokla is a member of the Turtle Clan and practices the traditional ways of her people called Tsyi Niyukwali:hota (Our Ways). As a lifelong activist, Sayokla, from a very early age, spoke out against alcoholism, child and sexual abuse, and represented her community’s youth as Jr. Miss Oneida and Miss Oneida, twice. She received an academic scholarship from Mount Holyoke College, an ivy-league women’s college in Massachusetts and graduated with a B.A. in Sociology. While completing her degree at Holyoke, Sayokla led a campaign and organized direct actions demanding that the new school administration maintain current and sustainable scholarship funding levels for women of color and not be reduced as was planned at the time. Soon after graduation, she was hired by IEN as the Mining Campaign Coordinator working with frontline communities through education, training, direct action, media support, and international work through the United Nations. Sayokla has worked as a Native American Sexual Assault Advocate and continues to educate on the connections between gender violence and the destruction of Mother Earth. She is currently the Indigenous Caucus Coordinator for the Western Mining Action Network.
Email: sayokla@gmail.com