Native American Perspectives on Human Dignity
Grasp the profound essence of human connection as indigenous leaders challenge existing paradigms. Shifting our focus to lived indigenous wisdom allows us to move past mere academic theory and into a space where knowledge is a living, relational force. When we listen to the voices of those whose dignity has been historically contested by the very institutions hosting the dialogue, the impact is not merely intellectual; it becomes a profound, restorative encounter that challenges our baseline assumptions about how we relate to one another and the earth.
Experience the Event
What perspectives do Native American traditions bring to the notion of integral human development? How might such traditions help us understand human dignity? Given past injustices, how can we work together to build more inclusive societies that advance the flourishing of all people? Integral human development is a holistic model of human flourishing articulated in Catholic social teaching and resonant in multiple religious, humanistic, and philosophical traditions worldwide. Studying different traditions can shed new light on this cross-disciplinary approach to human dignity, which proposes solutions that consider the whole person. Native American students, academics, and professionals explore these questions together.
This event was recorded in April 2022, and was presented by the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion and co-sponsored by the University of University of Notre Dame’s Nanovic Institute for European Studies and Department of American Studies in the College of Arts & Letters.
Indigenous Voices is co-sponsored on ThinkND by the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, the Initiative on Race and Resilience, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, the College of Arts & Letters Native American Initiatives, and the Native American Alumni of Notre Dame.
MoreMeet the Speaker: Jefferson Ballew IV
Jefferson Ballew IV is a cultural and diversity speaker who shares the history, traditions, and life ways of Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes Basin. For over 20 years, he has presented to schools, university/college classes, civic groups, and community organizations using story, song, and ceremony to connect past and present. Jefferson serves as the Sugar Bush Lead at the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi.
Meet the Faculty: Dr. Ashlee Bird
Dr. Ashlee Bird is a Native American game designer and Ph.D. in Native American Studies. She is Western Abenaki and originally hails from the Champlain Valley of Vermont. Her dissertation, “Representation and Reclamation: The History and Future of Natives in Gaming,” theorizes digital sovereignty, drawing on Native American studies, media studies, and game studies to address representations of Native American characters in video games. The work analyzes specific colonial methodologies being replicated within game spaces in order to then replace these with decolonial methods of game design being undertaken by herself and fellow Native game designers with a focus on what she terms “synthetic Indigenous identity,” oriented around promoting Indigenous futures.
Bird is currently working on a book manuscript tentatively titled Red Dead Redemption, that explores the complex relationships that different players have with games and undertakes an exploration of the Red Dead Redemption series and what the games have offered (or not offered) to their player bases. Beyond her academic writing, she has created three artworks, publicly exhibited seven times in group and solo exhibitions, and has curated one show. Among these are two of her original video games, One Small Step and Full of Birds, which have been featured in the InDigital Space at the ImagineNATIVE Film & Media Festival in 2018 and 2019 respectively. She was also a member of the UC Davis ModLab, an experimental laboratory for media research and digital humanities.
Meet the Speaker: Abigail Ginzburg '22 MGA
Abigail Ginzburg ’22 MGA is the project manager of the Detention Project at the National Immigrant Justice Center. Abigail previously served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kosovo and an AmeriCorps VISTA in Utah’s Refugee Services Office. She holds a bachelor of arts in Russian studies from the University of Chicago and a master of global affairs in refugee and immigration policy from the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.
Meet the Speaker: Mikaela Murphy '22
Mikaela Murphy ’22 majored in American Studies at the University of Notre Dame, where she was also an active member and leader of the Native American Student Association of Notre Dame. Mikaela is a member of the Cherokee Nation.
Meet the Faculty: Charles W. Powell
Charles W. Powell, KHS, serves as Associate Director for Mission Engagement and Church Affairs (OMECA) at the University of Notre Dame, a role he assumed in the summer of 2024.
Before joining OMECA, Powell worked with the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion in the Keough School of Global Affairs, where he led multifaith engagement initiatives and taught the course Evangelicals and Global Affairs. Concurrently, he served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Holy Cross College at Notre Dame, teaching courses on Christian–Muslim relations. Through Notre Dame Global, he also co-led the course International Law and the Holocaust in Poland for five years.
Powell’s professional and academic pursuits have taken him throughout Europe, the Levant and Gulf States, where he has focused on fostering understanding, trust, and collaboration between Christian and Muslim communities. He is the author of Southern Baptists and Muslims: A Path to Dialogue through Narrative Empathy, which reflects his ongoing commitment to interfaith dialogue and mutual respect.
An Academic Visiting Fellow Alumnus of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (Oxford, UK), Powell holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in Spirituality from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a Certificate in Executive Management from the Mendoza College of Business. Prior to his work at Notre Dame and his reception into the Catholic Church, he pastored congregations across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi.
Powell is married to Dr. Emilia Justyna Powell, Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Professor of Law at Notre Dame. Together they have two daughters and a Brussels Griffon. He is grateful to serve with OMECA, fostering the intellectual, spiritual, and communal life that animates Notre Dame’s Catholic mission.