Marissa Carmi
Marissa Carmi is a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she specializes in American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS). Her research explores the multidimensionality of Oneida sovereignty in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and Oneida intellectual history. As a former executive member of UNC’s First Nations Graduate Circle, a community of Indigenous graduate and professional students, she collaborated with Native campus organizations and community stakeholders to promote the growth of AIIS at UNC. She remains committed to this work as a member of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Working Group on Global Indigeneity and American Indian Studies. Appointed in fall 2022, the Working Group’s charge is to redefine and bolster the AIIS curriculum at the University. Before pursuing her doctorate, Marissa worked for the Administration for Native Americans (ANA), providing technical assistance to tribal nations and Native organizations implementing community development programs.
Marissa received her B.A. in English Literature from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and her M.A. in Cultural Studies from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Her master’s thesis examines the evolution of Oneida Christianity as a commitment to securing an Oneida future.
Danielle Hiraldo
Danielle Hiraldo (Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina) received her Ph.D. in American Indian Studies with a minor in public administration at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. She holds a M.P.A. and a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in Pre-Law from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
Before joining the American Indian Center, Dr. Hiraldo served as a researcher for the Native Nations Institute (NNI) situated in the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona where she remains an affiliate researcher. During her time at NNI, she collaborated with the University of North Carolina at Pembroke to host We Still Remain: A Conference Toward the Promotion of Southeast Indigenous Research, Scholarship, and Collaboration funded by NSF (BCS-2037256) to promote research collaborations and partnerships with Southeast Indigenous communities. Dr. Hiraldo co-founded the Southeast Indigenous Research Network for tribal community members and researchers interested in advancing Southeast Indigenous scholarship. Her research explores governance under state recognition, tribal-state relationships (specifically in the Southeast), federal Indian law/policy, and Native Nation governance structures and practices.
Danielle Purifoy
Danielle Purifoy is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Faculty Project Lead at the UNC Environmental Justice Action Research Clinic. They completed a Ph.D in Environmental Politics and African American Studies at Duke University. She earned a B.A. in English and Political Science from Vassar College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Their current research traces the roots of contemporary environmental conditions in the U.S. South, specifically in Black towns dating back to the post-Bellum era. She has also written about the legal dimensions of environmental justice and equity in food systems. They are the former Race and Place Editor editor at Scalawag, a magazine devoted to Southern politics and culture, and the former Board Chair of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network. They also serve on the Board of Directors of Inside Climate News.
Sara Smith
Sara Smith is a feminist political geographer interested in the relationship between territory, bodies, and the everyday. In her research, she seeks to understand how politics and geopolitics are constituted or disrupted through intimate acts of love, friendship, and birth. She has worked on these questions in the Ladakh region of India’s Jammu and Kashmir State in relation to marriage and family planning.
Her first book, Intimate Geopolitics: Love, Territory, and the Future on India’s Northern Threshold, was published by Rutgers University Press in March 2020. Her second book, Political Geography: A Critical Introduction was published by Wiley in April 2020.