Native Appropriations, Indigenous Social Media, and Responding to Racism
This presentation also covers cultural appropriation and stereotyping, but pulls in more of the personal story behind Native Appropriations, and the journey of thinking about the blog as a space to challenge racism, and understanding the blog as a space for “consenting to learn in public.” I cover the 4 “C”s of the blog: Critical Lens, Contemporary Issues, Community, and Counter-narratives, and the ways each of these play out in the space of Native Appropriations. I also discuss and provide practical advice about handling the deluge of hate mail that can accompany being a woman of color on the internet, and the power of the space to create real change, as well as how a blog can work alongside an academic career path.
 
Native Representations, Pop Culture, and Cultural Resistance in Cyberspace
This presentation delves into the concepts of stereotypes and cultural appropriation, and looks at the ways Native peoples are represented throughout popular culture–from Hollywood to the fashion industry, and discusses the way that Native peoples are pushing back on misrepresentation through social and new media, using case studies from native appropriations about Paul Frank, Urban Outfitters, The Lone Ranger, and more. Audience members will walk away with language and tools of how to talk about the harms of cultural appropriation, but also the best ways to incorporate Native fashion and Native media respectfully.
 
Representations Matter: Serving Native Students in Higher Education
This presentation discusses the experience of Native students in higher education, using my own experiences at Stanford in dealing with mascots and misrepresentations, while providing context and statistics about the invisibility of Native students in college spaces. I make an argument that universities need to ask themselves 4 questions: Whose land are you on? Who are your Native students? How are you recruiting and retaining Native students? and How are Native peoples represented on your campus? as a means to think through the ways schools can better support Native communities and students. I provide research and examples on the ways Native peoples are misrepresented and stereotyped to build a case for why representations matter.
 
Workshops for Native Students/Students of Color on Responding to Campus Racism
Using real life praxis scenarios rooted in Critical Race Theory, students work through how they would respond at multiple levels (interpersonally, institutionally) to instances of racism on campus. They will work in small groups to develop a “game plan” for when such instances occur on their campuses–identifying their allies and support networks, sources of power and leverage, and thinking through possible outcomes and resolutions for these scenarios. Students leave with an understanding of possible ways to approach situations that occur in the varied spaces of a university (dorm, classroom, parties, etc), where and who to turn to when this occurs, how to coalition build with other communities of color on campus, and best courses of action to remedy and move forward.
 
Other speech topics include:

• Native American Mascots and Cultural Appropriation
• Learning to Lead from Behind a Keyboard: Representations, Activism, and Native Appropriations
• Cultural Appropriation in Fashion and Pop Culture: What is it and why does it matter?
• College Pride, Native Pride: Native Student Experiences in College
• Who’s Got Reservations? Media and Its Role in Native America

Dr. Keene is also open to any other topics on Native representations, stereotypes, mascots, social media activism, or cultural appropriation; as well as the experiences of Native students in college environments.