Department of Sociology

Year of Entry: 2022

Billie is a cultural and historical sociologist interested in questions of tribal belonging and indigenous identity. Her work employs a DuBoisian approach that aims to incorporate indigenous knowledges into sociological understandings of structure and agency by exploring  the lived experiences of tribal community members in their historical and contextual specificity. 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 surrounding tribal communities toward discussions of self-determination and survivance.