Why aren't Indians often heard in mainstream America? Scholar K. Tsianina Lomawaima says it’s because of the simple but challenging reality that this country is built on Native lands.

The recipient of the UW Distinguished Teaching Award talks to Steve Scher about American Indians, citizenship, identity and strength.

Professor K. Tsianina Lomawaima spoke February 10th as Mary Ann and John D. Mangels Lecturer, Equity and Difference Series Speaker. Her UW Public Lecture was titled “More Than Mascots! Less Than Citizens? American Indians Talk: Why Isn’t the U.S. Listening?”

She is professor, Justice and Social Inquiry, Distinguished Scholar of Indigenous Education, Center for Indian Education, School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University.

She is author of “They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School,” which received the North American Indian Prose Award and the American Educational Association Critics’ Choice Award. She is also author of “To Remain an Indian: Lessons for Democracy from a Century of Native American Education (co-authored with Teresa L. McCarty) and “Away From Home, American Indian Boarding School Experiences” (co-author and co-editor with Margaret Archuleta and Brenda Child)