John Little, formerly of Winner, is the recipient of the 2018 Cobell summer graduate research fellowship.
Little is attending the University of Minnesota where he is a doctoral student in American History.
Little says: “Investing and empowering Native youth is central to my future career goals. As an aspiring college professor, I want to ensure that Native American students have opportunities to exist, succeed and feel safe in higher education spaces. My personal research will center on Indigenous storytelling, survival and resistance thus preserving Lakota and Dakota songs, languages and traditions for future generations. By foregrounding native stories, traditions and language, I hope to inspire generations of native youth to challenge the ways non-native people have written and documented native peoples. Like Elouise Cobell, I hope to challenge these systems which limit how native people are seen in the present to promote and inspire change.
“In addition, I believe that highlighting indigenous voices and histories will create new collaborations between native and non-native communities.”
Little says the award will allow him “to begin additional research and conduct interviews with Lakota and Dakota Vietnam veterans. My dissertation examines Native American military service during the Vietnam War. More specifically, I analyze Lakota and Dakota motivations for military service as well as their experiences during and after Vietnam. I also examine how native veterans confronted, challenged and sometimes embraced ideas about race, masculinity, warrior culture and stereotypically assumptions about Indian-ness.”
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