“You’re Not Going to Round Me to Zero, You’re Going to Round Me to at Least One, I Will at Least Be One”: Lumbee Erasure, Identity, and Stories of a Lumbee Professor and a Lumbee Student

Abstract

Abstract:This work centers on the experiences of a Lumbee lecturer and a Lumbee student at a large university in the southeastern United States. The Lumbee lecturer had never taught a Native student, and the Lumbee student had never had a Native professor. This work details their experiences in this context and explores the importance of Lumbee identity for both scholars, while also centering their struggles in the academy and their resistance and resilience to it. A major theme of this work is the importance of representation, both for students and their teachers. This work is guided by Tribal Critical Race Theory.