Summer Powell

Yá'át'ééh shik'èí dóó shidine'è, Shí éí Summer Powell yinishyé, Naakai Dine’é nishłį́, Na'ahiłii bashishchiin, Tsi’naajinii dashicheii, Naahiłií dashinalí. Hello, I am Summer Powell, born to the Mexican People (mother’s clan), born for Black people (father’s clan), my Cheii (maternal grandfather) is from the Black Streak Wood People, and my Nalí (paternal grandfather) is Black.

Summer is from Window Rock, AZ, the capital of the Navajo Nation, and a citizen of the Navajo (Diné) Nation. She is a PhD student and a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Kansas. Her research focus is primarily on the Diné people and women, and their ability to gain access to the Colorado River through law and policy. She previously earned her M.A. in Indigenous Studies, studying the Supreme Court case Arizona v. Navajo Nation (2023) with personal accounts of water access within the Navajo Nation at the University of Kansas. She also earned her B.A. in Indigenous and American Indian Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS.

Summer has four sisters, Danielle, Autumn, Shawntai, and Shyla, one brother, Kenny, her mom, Charlene, and her aunt, Sandra, and her grandparents, Gladys and Dennis Blackgoat.