Abstract:

What happens to human beings when their culture and history are systematically erased? In this powerful account, psychology PhD candidate Ms Jill Fish tells her story growing up as a Tuscarora woman in a world that fails to accurately acknowledge indigenous peoples’ cultures and histories. Integrating psychological theory and research with her personal and collective stories as a Tuscarora woman, Fish demonstrates the critical need to pay attention to the role culture and history plays in the present day lives of indigenous peoples through her model of human development – forcing individuals to see the legacy of settler colonialism and challenging them to do something about it. Jill Fish’s work focuses on transforming social institutions to make them inclusive and equitable for Native American peoples. Fish has been recognized for these efforts by several organizations, including the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the Quell Foundation, and the American Psychological Association. Fish is from the Tuscarora Nation (Skarú:rÄ™' Kayeda:kreh) of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy which is described as the earth’s oldest, participatory democracy. For the Haudenosaunee, law, society and nature are equal partners and each plays an important role.