Entering a Conversation

Roshelle Wieser-Nieto

Roshelle Weiser-Nieto, who is Modoc and Yahooskin Paiute of the Klamath Tribes, always knew she wanted to pursue a doctoral degree someday. A professor recently shared that research is “entering into a conversation” that includes many contributions and perspectives. She wants to make sure, however, that those conversations include members of the community, and that research is driving change outside of academia as well as within.

Roshelle earned her bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies at University of Oregon. While she knew she wanted to teach, and even took a few Education Foundations courses, she was drawn to Ethnic Studies, saying “if I’m going to be the best teacher I can be for communities of color, I’m going to spend my time and focus learning what it means to be well-versed in ethnic studies. I feel if I have a good understanding of other cultures’ experiences, then I can be a better teacher for all students.” She wrote her senior thesis on the effect of forced boarding schools on Indigenous oral traditions. “If we understand the value of oral tradition, and we recognize the impacts of boarding schools, and the historical trauma that that’s led to, how can we move toward a place of historical healing? I really see that as my life’s work.”

It was a natural transition from Ethnic Studies to the Sapsik’ʷałá program, where she graduated in 2010. She said, “during my second year of Sapsik’ʷałá, I was in the largest cohort that we’ve ever had, there were seventeen of us. And it was just so spiritually powerful to walk into our classes and have seventeen Indigenous people strong, to feel like we weren’t alone. It felt magical. If it wasn’t for Sapsik’ʷałá I probably wouldn’t have become a teacher and I certainly wouldn’t be in my PhD program.”

Roshelle is now in her second year of the Critical and Sociocultural Studies in Education PhD program, and working as a Graduate Employee for the Sapsik’ʷałá program, coming full circle. She says, “part of my job working for Sapsik’ʷałá is to attend the seminars. We’re with the students in the current cohort, students who we get to serve as mentors. It’s really interesting to hear the things that they’re thinking about, because I’ve been out of Sapsik’ʷałá for ten years. These future teachers think about things in different ways than we did and they’re just so innovative and inspiring. And so those mentoring conversations go both ways. They teach me just as much, if not more. When you’re talking about education you need to understand the importance of relationships, and you need to understand the importance of reciprocity in those relationships.”

“The thing about being Indigenous is we’re relational, and there is no word for ‘I’ in a lot of our tribal languages. It’s always ‘we’, or the word for what we call our people. That really resonated with me in thinking about my work. It’s a whole movement, and I’m blessed to be able to contribute to the conversation.”