Sovereignty of the Soul

Sovereignty of the Soul: Violence and Native Women with McArthur Fellow & Professor of Law Sarah Deer, Citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of OklahomaProfessor Deer’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of tribal law and victim’s rights. Professor Deer first worked to address violence against women beginning when she was an undergraduate in 1993. She volunteered as a rape crisis advocate while working toward her B.A. in Women’s Studies and Philosophy from the University of Kansas. She later attended law school so that she could address the unique legal issues facing Native rape survivors, and received her J.D. with a Tribal Lawyer Certificate from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1999. In addition to authoring several articles on the issues facing Native women in the United States, Deer is a co-author of two textbooks on tribal law: Introduction to Tribal Legal Studies and Tribal Criminal Law and Procedure, as well as a co-editor of Sharing Our Stories of Survival: Native Women Surviving Violence. She is the recipient of the 2010 Sheila Wellstone Award and was named as one of 12 Emerging Scholars Class of 2011 by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education. In April 2011, Professor Deer received the Allied Professional Award from the United States Department of Justice for work on victims’ issues. In September 2014, Professor Deer was named a MacArthur Fellow. She has been quoted in the New York Times and the Guardian. She has been a guest on NPR, Al Jazeera, and MSNBC.