Department of Sociology

Year of Entry: 2022

Billie is a cultural and historical sociologist interested in questions of tribal belonging and community agency. Her work employs a DuBoisian approach that aims to incorporate indigenous knowledges in linking the lived experiences of community members to macro level structures of policy, social movements, and ideologies. Her current research is a collaborative project with her tribal community (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), in which she explores how actors across multiple generations have made space for themselves within the ever-changing American Indian identity. In doing so, Billie aims to create an empowering and informative archive for her community and shift the often damage-centered academic narratives around tribal communities toward ones of self-determination and survivance.