Education

Ph.D., Human Science, graduation, August 2012

Saybrook University, San Francisco, California

Ph.D. Dissertation: Restor(y)ing environmentalism: Decolonizing White settlers in the United States: (Re)placing post-traumaticsettler disorder

[Nominated for Saybrook University’s Dissertation with Distinction Award]

Chair: Jürgen W. Kremer, Ph.D.

Integrating interdisciplinary theoretical and personal narratives toward reconciling settler and Indigenous identities, and transforming Eurocentered environmental practices.

National Board Certified Teacher candidate, Early Adolescent Mathematics, Oakland Unified School District, California, 2005

Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, 2002

John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, California

Bachelor of Arts, Humanities, 1994

New College of California, San Francisco, California

B.A. Thesis: The InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council: Implications of Indigenous rights and conservation strategies

Teaching experience

Guest lecture: “(Re)creating relationships: Maintaining true love amid fluid boundaries”, March 2015

Human sexuality: Susan Rahman, Ph. D., College of Marin, Kentfield, California

Guest lecture: “Ethnoautobiography and socially engaged imagination”, March 2015

Social psychology: Susan Rahman, Ph. D., College of Marin, Kentfield, California

Yoga dads: Infant-centered yoga & somatics class for new fathers and their families

October 2013 to July 2014, OmBalance, Dallas, Texas

Graduate Seminar:Restor(y)ing Environmentalism: Environmentalism as a social movement, August 2013

Saybrook University, San Francisco, California

Lead Teacher Assistant (Online component for 3-week intersessions), June 2012 to June 2013

Ethics, Values and Multiculturalism: Jürgen Kremer, Ph.D., Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California

Guest lecture: “Introducing Ethnoautobiography”, August 2011

Ethics, values and multiculturalism: Leny Strobel, Ed.D., Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California

Guest lecture: “Post-traumatic settler disorder”, August 2011

Transcultural Perspectives on Psychological Suffering and its Diagnosis: Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.

Saybrook Residential Conference, Burlingame, California

Teaching Assistant, 2007 to 2008

Introduction to Psychology: Jürgen W. Kremer, Ph.D., Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California

6^th grade Math & Earth Science Core Teacher, 2001 to 2007

Montera Middle School, Oakland, California

Guest Lecture: “Ecology, Colonialism and Indigenism”, 1996

New College of California, San Francisco, California

Art and embodiment

Work of body

Preparing a trans/disciplinary art and photography show integrating representations of the body, fluid personal identities and embodiment. Works include body art (tattoos and body painting); vraukins & mannekins; hands & feet; marked by place (tattoos reflecting sense of place); embodying tenderness (terms of endearment written on bodies); multiple portraits, headshots and costumes.

Works in process

My Cadillac

Soul shattering

Flip ya lid

Cloud atlas

Ofrenda para las animalitas

Publications

~~~~~ visit my teaching & writing page for more info ~~~~~

Books

2014. Ethnoautobiography: Stories and practices for unlearning whiteness, decolonization, uncovering ethnicity. Co-authored with Jürgen W. Kremer. ISBN 978-0-98197-066-0.

Journal Articles, refereed

2008. Rituals of Inquiry; or, Looking for ‘Culture and Truth.’ ReVision 30(1 & 2), 11-15. doi: 10.4298/REVN.30.1/2.13-17 [Jackson-Paton.2008]

Creative Writing

2011. (February). Transitions (poem). Wise Brain Bulletin 5(2), 11-12.

Blogs

beingunsettled.us

https://www.facebook.com/river.guidance

Manuscripts Submitted

Playing in the wild: Seven riffs on wilderness.

Environmentalism and the ghosts of White settlement: A play without actors.

Pilgrimage to shadow. (poem).

The long and the short. (poem)

Manuscripts in Preparation

Positive sex: Toward a more human sexuality (co-authored with Susan Rahman, Ph.D.)

Coming into the open (co-authored with Jenny Jackson-Paton)

Are you being served? (co-authored with Jenny Jackson-Paton)

Brain trans/formations: Mind/body, man/woman, human/nature

Coaquanok; or, “the place of the long trees”: Restorying Philadelphia.

Settlement privilege: Unpacking the invisible covered wagon.

Looking for Cynthia Ann Parker: Settling Texas, all over again.

(Not) being White: A decolonization reader and workbook.

Unsettling post-traumatic settler dis-ease: Toward an in-process definition.

Riffs of remembrance: Trauma, Place, Embodiment, Healing.

Unpublished manuscripts

(Not) being White: Decolonizing post-traumatic settler disorder. Unpublished doctoral candidacy essay. San Francisco: Saybrook University. 2010. [Nominated for Saybrook University essay award].

Playing in the wild: Whiteness and the environmental shadow. Unpublished doctoral candidacy essay. San Francisco: Saybrook University. 2010.

Additional published articles

1997 (Summer). Indigenous Peoples Fight Park Service in the US. Cultural Survival Quarterly 21(2), 7.

1996 (Summer). Desert Protection or Indian Removal? Federal Agencies Stonewall Timbisha Shoshone Over Trust Land in Death Valley. News From Native California 9(4), 55-6. (Berkeley, California).

1995a (July). Of Wolves and Native People. Terrain 25(7), 13. (Berkeley, California).

1995b (July 19). Agencies Unite for tribal land search. Inyo Register, A1. (Bishop, California).

1995c (May 11). California Desert Protection Act puts Shoshone back into park. Indian Country Today, A1. (Rapid City, South Dakota)

1995d (Spring). Back into the Park: California Desert Protection Act offers hope to Timbisha Shoshone. News From Native California 8(4), 50. (Berkeley, California).

1995e (Spring). Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council. Cultural Survival Quarterly19(1), 5.

1994 (July). The Circle of Stereotypes: Indigenous Peoples, ‘Wildlife,’ and Walt Disney’s The Lion King.Terrain  24(8), 16. (Berkeley, California).

1989 (Summer). Sacred Earth Denounces Desecration. Portland Free Press 1(3), 3. (Portland, Oregon).

Conference presentations

Ethnoautobiography as Integrative Pedagogy      April 2014

in the Discourse on Race, Class, and Gender

Co-presented with Jürgen Kremer, Leny Strobel, Crete Brown, Susan Rahman

Ethnic Studies Association Conference, Oakland, California

Moving through Whiteness: A performance          September 2013

Critical Ethnic Studies Association, University of Illinois, Chicago

Locating our selves amidst the wealth:      April 2013

Creative approaches to intersectionality for personal and social transformation

Co-presented with Susan Rahman, M.A.

White Privilege Conference, Seattle, Washington

In the shadow of Chief Seattle:      April 2013

Reclaiming environmentalism from the ghosts of white settlement

White Privilege Conference, Seattle, Washington

Unlearning Colonial Environmentalism      April 2013

Native Science: Dimensions & Dialogues, Pitzer College, Claremont, California

Facing Collective Shadows:    March 2012

Accounting for and Healing from White Settlement (Full day institute)

White Privilege Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Settlement Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Covered Wagon    March 2012

White Privilege Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Setting the table: Decolonizing White settler identity      April 2011

White Privilege Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota

On Reconciliation October 2008

Peace and Justice Studies Association conference, Portland, Oregon

 

Rituals of reconciliation:          September 2008

Three gifts toward healing ceremonies in settler societies

Conference on the Study of Shamanism, San Rafael, California

Parks with people: 1996

The Timbisha Shoshone and Death Valley National Park: Transforming ecocolonialism

California Indian Conference, Berkeley, California

Conference and workshop participation

Colonization Privilege and Resistance: Preparing for Justice GA 2012, February 2012

Unitarian Universalist Allies for Racial Equity Annual Conference, Fort Worth, Texas

International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, May 2008

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Language of Spirit Conference, August 2008, Albuquerque, New Mexico

White Privilege Conference, April 2008, Springfield, Massachusetts

New Directions in Ecological Leadership Workshop, 1996

Boulder Institute for a Sustainable Future, Boulder, Colorado

Collective Silence and Psychological Healing Workshop, 1996

Jürgen Kremer, PhD California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, California

Tribal Knowledge for Euro-Americans Workshop, 1996

California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, California

Indigenous Peoples Politics Workshop, 1993

Mark Sills, University of Colorado, Denver

International Indigenous Movement Workshop, 1989

Dian Million, Portland, Oregon 

Community events

Equality testimony worship sharing, February 2012, Co-facilitator at Dallas Quaker Meeting

Peace testimony worship sharing, May 2011, Co-facilitator at Dallas Quaker Meeting

Research interests and experience

Cross-cultural environmental studies, Indigenous and cultural studies, philosophies of inquiry and autobiography, transformative learning

Dissertation Research: Southern Plains, United States,  2011: “Making Space for the Ghosts of Settlement: From Palo Duro Canyon to Sand Creek.”

 

Field Research: England and Ireland, 1998: “Cultural Geography of Ancient Sites.”

 

Field Research: Philippines, 1997 to 1998: “William Henry Scott: An American Scholar in Sagada, Mt. Province.”

 

Final Report, 1997, Unlearning colonial environmentalism: Supporting Timbisha traditional knowledge. Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, Death Valley, California. Seventh Generation Fund, Environment Program.

 

Field research: Scandinavia, 1996: “Rock Carvings and Indigenous Peoples in Scandinavia.”

Additional professional experience

Managing Editor, 2008 to present: ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation

Board of Directors, 2003 to present, Consensus Classroom, Inc.

Math Professional Development Institute, 2002 to 2003, University of California, Berkeley

 

Grant funding

Seventh Generation Fund, Environment Program, 1996 to 1997

Unlearning Colonial Environmentalism: Supporting Timbisha Traditional Knowledge, Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, Death Valley, California, $2,000

Additional context

Production stage manager, 2004 to 2009: California Revels, Oakland, California.

Cook, Whole Foods Market, 2007: Oakland, California.

Member of Dallas Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

Parent of 23 and 21-year-old children.

Avid outdoor enthusiast and somatic yoga practitioner.