Mikayla Martin

Mikayla speaking at the 2nd annual Indigenous People’s Day Celebration at Fil am Hall on Bainbridge Island.

My name is Evelyn Mikayla Martin. My Indian name is Stewaakí. My pronouns are she/her, they/them. I am Squamish, Comanche and Blackfeet. I identify the most as being a Blackfeet woman because of growing up nearer to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana and have been captured and inducted into Blackfeet religious societies when I was a child.  I am a member of the Crazy Dog Society.  Browning, Montana is where I have grown up attending the sun dance and many sacred bundle openings. Many of the teachings and stories I carry with me throughout my life have come from these ceremonies.

I am a junior at the University of Washington, double majoring in American Indian Studies and Gender Women Sexuality Studies. One of my goals is to make an effort to Indigenize coursework and the educational experience for Native women in academia. Allowing them to incorporate and apply their cultural knowledge and teachings to their scholarship resulting in the creation of a safer/more inclusive environment for Native women and girls within the institution of education.

I teach K-3 art classes at the Muckleshoot Childhood Development Center and I am a mentor for the Educational Opportunity Program through the Office of Minority and Diversity Affairs.

I am a poet and visual artist, I am passionate about the process of decolonizing modes of thinking and ways of being, and it is important to me to stay active and organize.

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