Sarah Deer (speciality sexual violence ) Among 21 Diverse MacArthur 'Genius Grant' Winners

[niyad]

Sarah Deer Among 21 Diverse MacArthur 'Genius Grant' Winners

(please watch the video for an explanation of her work)

Sarah Deer, 41, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, is among a group of 21 diverse 2014 fellows of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Each will receive a stipend of $625,000 over five years. The “no strings attached” stipend is paid out in equal quarterly installments over the five years.

Deer, a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, has documented the failure to protect victims of physical and sexual abuse in Indian country. In 2007, she spearheaded an Amnesty International report, Maze of Injustice, in which she reframed the problem of sexual violence in Indian country as an international human rights issue.

“Congratulations to Professor Sarah Deer on being named a 2014 MacArthur Foundation Fellow. No one has worked more tirelessly in the important cause of justice and safety for Native women than Professor Deer. She has been on the ground helping to collect the voices of Native women needing to be heard,” said Kevin K. Washburn, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. “We applaud her for her work and for receiving such a prestigious honor. I for one am very heartened by the knowledge that her invaluable efforts on behalf of all Native women has now been recognized beyond Indian country.”


“The MacArthur Fellowship will change my life in a number of ways, but more importantly it will allow me to do more focused work on the passion that I have for justice for Native women, but there’s a little more pressure now,” Deer says in a MacArthur Foundation video. “I really want to live up to what they have identified in me. So I’ll be looking forward to proving them right.”

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Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/09/17/sarah-deer-among-21-diverse-macarthur-genius-grant-winners-156927