Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

UND awards fluent Nu’eta speaker with honorary degree

Brianna Bragg, left, and Shilo George explore themes such as Indigequeer identity, Two-Spiritness, disability, boundaries, survivance. Photo illustration by Jarrette Werk and Shilo George

Dear Tiger Lily Reader:

Here is a column from Doreen Yellow Bird, regarding the University of North Dakota. The school awarded Edwin Benson, the last fluent Mandan speaker, with an honorary degree. See my other posts about Benson. Join the Twin Buttes community in reviving the Nu’eta language. Learn words from the language here on Tiger Lily. I am posting new words regularly. I also expect to post audio clips to the words.

Jodi Rave

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.