Sarah Deer wins a MacArthur Genius Grant for her work on crime against Native women
This week, the MacArthur Foundation announced the 21 recipients of its annual 2014 "genius" grants. Each of those chosen will receive a no-strings attached grant of $625,000 over five years, to continue their ongoing work. Sarah Deer is one of them....
This week, the MacArthur Foundation announced the 21 recipients of its annual 2014 "genius" grants. Each of those chosen will receive a no-strings attached grant of $625,000 over five years, to continue their ongoing work. Sarah Deer is one of them.
'They called me on my cell phone. I didn't recognize the number and was very busy, so I didn't answer, at first'
Nominations are made anonymously and nominees are not aware their names have been put foward, so Deer - a Professor of Law at the William Mitchell College of Law - was taken very much by surprise when the Foundation called.
She identifies as a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation and has risen to prominence as a defender of Native women against sexual violence and abuse. She has worked on reports for Amnesty International and the US Department of Justice on crimes and sexual abuse against Indigenous women in the US.
'Early settlers felt entitled to Native women's bodies and there's never really been an intervention to that mentality'
Deer is very much aware of the conversation regarding the Missing and Murdered Indigenous women in Canada and she is considering putting her grant money toward similar work on the issue in the US.
She tells Carol that she disagrees with Prime Minister Harper's view that the fate of the more than 1200 missing and murdered First Nations women in Canada is not a 'social phenomenon'. Deer acknowledges that similar crimes are committed against women of all backgrounds, but holds that since Native women are victimized so disproportionately there is more to it than simply crime.
'The reality for Native Women in North America is that we are targets. And we are targets because of the history of indifference and because of contemporary indifference.'
You can see the complete list of the 2014 MacArthur Genius Grant recipients, here, and learn more about Sarah Deer's work, below: