Aanchtaakia Fellowship Recipients

Chris Bowyer

2023: Christopher Bowyer

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

2022: Jared Nally

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

2021: April Hester

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.