By

Principal investigator
Jennifer Shannon

Funding
Whiting Public Engagement Program

Collaboration + support
Mike Connolly, tribal historian of the Campo Kumeyaay Nation, near San Diego; Stan Rodriguez, tribal historian and professor at Kumeyaay Community College

Indigenous comicsJennifer Shannon, associate professor ofÌýanthropology and curator at the CU MuseumÌýof Natural History, has won a Whiting PublicÌýEngagement Program fellowship, a major grantÌýfor her work chronicling Indigenous history inÌýcomic books.

The $50,000 fellowship will support KumeyaayÌýComics: Indigenous Histories of California, aÌýproject that builds on the success of Shannon’sÌýNAGPRA Comics.

The aim of NAGPRA Comics, which wasÌýlaunched in 2017 with archaeologist SonyaÌýAtalay (Anishinaabe-Ojibwe) and archaeologistÌýand comics creator John Swogger, is to tell trueÌýstories about repatriation from Native nations’Ìýperspectives.

Taking its name from the federal NativeÌýAmerican Graves Protection and RepatriationÌýAct (NAGPRA) of 1990, the series helps NativeÌýpeoples, museum professionals, universityÌýstudents and others understand both theÌýobligations and impact of the legislation,ÌýShannon said.