As part of American Indian History Month, the Graduate School Diversity & Student Success office will present their signature event, Beyond These Walls, featuring Graduate Scholars creating knowledge that will impact Carolina and BEYOND.

Scholars include Danielle R. Gartner, Ph.D. Candidate in Epidemiology; Rachel Wilbur, Ph.D. Student in Anthropology; and Meredith L. McCoy, Ph.D. Candidate in American Studies. These scholars are all doing great interdisciplinary work in Indian Country, building on their doctoral training at UNC-Chapel Hill.

This presentation will include the findings of a recent report completed for a national non-profit organization. The presentation will demonstrate the complexity of boarding school legacies through the review of the biomedical, social sciences and humanities literature. It will include topics like intergenerational resilience and trauma, the rise of coalitions of former boarding school students as political advocates and contemporary educational outcomes for Native youth.

Such information is important not only for the ways in which it can inform health and education interventions, but more directly through its ability to empower communities and redirect feelings of blame and hopelessness away from individuals while providing channels for evidence-based action. It is the intention that the summary of research presented help guide advocacy efforts in boarding school truth-telling and healing efforts, as well as help direct future research on boarding schools’ contemporary effects on Native youth, families and nations.

There will be a short reception afterwards to meet the scholars.

For more info, visit the official event link: https://diversity.unc.edu/event/beyond-these-walls/