Aanchtaakia Graduate Fellowship Program
The Myaamia Center at Miami University seeks Indigenous scholars interested in working within the Myaamia Center’s interdisciplinary research and development environment. Applicants must be interested in the preservation and dissemination of Indigenous language, culture, history, ecological perspectives, or related topics that support the continuance and education of Indigenous epistemologies within their prospective communities.
About the Aanchtaakia Graduate Fellowship
Aanchtaakia is the Myaamia word meaning ‘change maker.’ This fellowship is specifically designed for tribal scholars motivated to make positive change in tribal communities and to share their research or interests on Miami University’s campus. Applicants admitted into their graduate program of interest at Miami University can apply to the fellowship.The fellowship program offers 100% instructional and 33% fee waiver along with a stipend.. The fellowship program encourages members of any federally recognized tribe, Alaskan Indian Village, or Native Hawaiian as defined by the U.S. Government’s Federal Register to apply to this program.
The Myaamia Center is a tribally-directed research and educational development center located on Miami University’s campus in Oxford, OH. As a community-driven center embedded within a 50-year relationship between the sovereign Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University, the center provides a unique opportunity for students to work with an interdisciplinary staff of researchers and educators who are directly involved in community driven revitalization work. A wide range of Indigenous topics may be explored in the center that directly support the revitalization of language and culture for the Miami Tribe community.
Application and Nomination Process
Students who are interested in applying for the Aanchtaakia Graduate Fellowship should contact Jennifer Jones-Scott at scottjs@miamioh.edu to receive a link to the Myaamia Center’s application form.
Miami departments who would like to nominate a student should contact Jennifer Jones-Scott at scottjs@miamioh.edu for the Aanchtaakia Department Nomination Form.
Nominations must include a letter of support from the Graduate Director or Department Chair that addresses the applicant’s qualifications and academic promise. Additionally, the nominated student will be asked to complete the process by filling out the Myaamia Center’s application form.
Applications and nominations are due annually on February 15th or on March 15th. Applications and nominations will be accepted after March 15th if awards are available. The total number of awards per academic program are limited.
Decision Process
The review process will start the week following February 15th and March 15th, with decisions being announced within two weeks. Selection will be based on the strength of the nomination, considering the applicant's graduate application, and the letter of support and recommendation.
Fellowship Recipients
Chris Bowyer is a first year Aanchtaakia Graduate Fellow pursuing an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in the English Creative Writing: Non-fiction program here at Miami University. Chris's research here at the Myaamia Center focuses on work with aacimoona and aalhsoohkana, our historical narratives and winter stories. His interests lie primarily in the integration of historical storytelling into educational programs and the poetic forms and themes that identify winter stories.
Chris's interest in storytelling began very young -- he thanks his parents for reading to him and spinning their own yarns to entertain him, as this tradition is what cascaded into his participation in one of his favorite events: his participation in the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma's Winter Gathering event as a storyteller is the highlight of his year. He also worked as a Special Research Intern for the Cultural Resources Office and assisted at the Myaamia Heritage Museum and Archive in Oklahoma after receiving his MA in Philosophy in 2016. His prior academic work focused on storytelling and folklore as both examples of and vehicles for myaamia philosophy.
Storytelling traditions in the myaamia community are growing constantly, and Chris regards his work as an opportunity to foster that growth whenever possible: encouraging new storytellers for Winter Gathering, creating collaborative storytelling games, and finding and sharing connections to storytelling in everyday life. Having worked with folklore as an epistemology or a way of knowing the world, Chris is focused not only on the knowledge of our history and lore but the sharing of that knowledge to the community.
Jared Nally is an Aanchitaakia Graduate Fellow in the Master’s of Environmental Science (M.En.) program at Miami University. As an Aanchitakia fellow or change maker, Jared will be working as a research assistant in the Myaamia Center focusing on the revitalization of Myaamia textiles and cultural ecology.
Growing up as part of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma’s Kansas diaspora, textiles became a way for Jared to connect to the Myaamia community; it also introduced him to Myaamia ethnobotany. Through Miami University’s M.En. program, Jared plans to gain skills in ecology and applied conservation to work with the plants and environments used to produce Myaamia textiles.
Jared feels that it is important for him to bring this knowledge back to his community. His previous work in the fields of communications and Indigenous studies, coupled with his role as a community textile artist, provides a solid foundation for revitalization work and connecting Myaamia makers to the cultural ecology of Myaamia textiles.
Jared received his B.A. in Indigenous and American Indian Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University. While at Haskell, Jared served as editor of The Indian Leader, the nation’s oldest Native American student newspaper, where he received the 2021 Elias Boudinot Free Press Award with his staff. Jared has also worked as guest editor for KANSAS! magazine, and has published multi-media work in The Lawrence Times, Lawrence Magazine, and Indian Country Today.
April Hester is a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation. She was born in Norman, Oklahoma and moved to Ohio with her immediate family in her youth. She has spent much of her life living in Cincinnati, Ohio where she now resides with her husband Matt and their daughter Adalyn.
April has always had a passion for preserving and honoring Native American culture and heritage. This led her to earn her BA in Anthropology and minor in Native American Studies from Northern Kentucky University in 2020. While in her undergraduate at NKU, she founded the Native American Student Association. She also served as the Education Coordinator for the Greater Cincinnati Native American Coalition providing resources and facilitating educator training programs for Ohio educators. April provides consultations for educational institutions in Cincinnati as a local Native representative and looks forward to earning her M.A. in Transformative Education at Miami University and beginning work as the Aanchtaakia graduate fellow in Fall 2021.
Contact the Myaamia Center
