Shekoli, My name is Quin (any pronouns). I am a two spirit person and mixed Native American who is tribally affiliated with the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, and am of the Turtle clan. I grew up in Madison, WI and Verona, WI, but I have lived in Minnesota since 2017.
I received my bachelor of arts from Augsburg University in sociology in 2022, and my master's in public health from the University of Minnesota in 2024.
I research a wide range of topics that affect Native Americans in some way, shape, or form: from housing and homelessness to news coverage about Native people that portray us as belonging to the past rather than the present and future. My dissertation will focus on the information bubble surrounding AI, data center construction and lack of environmental or land use oversight, while centering an Indigenous, relational worldview as a means of providing nuance in this area of tech development which can inform regulatory policy considerations.
I began doing research in a weird time: during COVID Summer of 2020, as a TRIO McNair Scholar. I lived around ten blocks from where George Floyd was murdered in June, and a few days prior I had traveled back to Madison to work on my project (a qualitative study surveying mental health advocates about their perceptions of people diagnosed with bipolar disorder). While I did not publish my McNair project, nor did I get to present it due to the pandemic -- the project inspired me to pursue a PhD, and kept me sane during an unprecedented lockdown of our society.
It took me longer than I'd have liked to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, how my unique skills and perspectives could contribute to knowledge and the world around me -- but I'm very proud of the research I do with the teams of amazing people I work alongside. Overall, I hope my work fills in some of the massive gaps in the literature, which lacks Native-centered research as a whole.
A question academics often get is, why do we do what we do? What's in it for us?
I can confidently write that I'm not pursuing my high education for the pay. If I wanted money, and only that -- I'd have gone into consulting, or industry jobs that pay 100k+ more than I would make as an academic. I want to become a professor because I believe that knowledge is the most valuable thing that anyone can have. As a first-generation college student -- and in the society we live in today where rights are being violated and eroded on a weekly basis -- no one can take your education from you. No matter who you are.
I research what I do (communication about health and social issues that pertain to Native Americans) as someone who grew up living in the gray area between two worlds -- being Native American (and looking very much like it), and being mixed White, but never treated as such. I saw how Native people were portrayed when I had little access to my culture...wondering why there were so few like me.
For context, I'm unenrolled in Oneida, though I would qualify as a descendant. I knew about blood quantum policies at a young age, because I'm 1/16th short of being a full half of "Indian blood" to be a true member of my nation. Especially as colonization continues on many levels, I try to raise awareness of the draconian and inherently colonialist nature of blood quantum and other policies imposed by the federal government among my colleagues and non-Native people. This is why I care about demographic data collection methods, data sovereignty among Native tribes, and inclusion of mixed Native people in both tribal policy, and U.S. federal policy decision making. As policies such as blood quantum affect tribal membership status for newer generations (as designed) I believe facilitating cultural connection and belonging among descendants, and life long learning and listening can go a long way in carrying on our values, relational worldview, and reciprocal nature of relationships for many generations to come.
I study the topics I do (Native-related social issues) with the methods I use (hybridizing computational and qualitative, community-based mixed methods) because of my lifef long interests in technology. As a member of the "zoomer" (elder Gen Z) micro-generation, I grew up in an age of the Internet when it was truly a hub of virtual third spaces full of small communities of people around the world with shared interests. No bots. No algorithms. No corporate interests and invasive marketing. No data scraping. No AI slop.
I was playing (and modding) The Sims 2 around age 7, modding Minecraft, moderating and administrating online gaming communities throughout my teens, and taking on leadership positions in guilds for the MMORPGs I played. These were opportunities to lead, hold responsibility, and facilitate teamwork in my free time that I never would have had without access to the Internet.
Through the Internet, I've met and played games with people from around the world, with different occupations, politics, and worldviews -- and so I see the Internet as a beautiful, yet chaotic place where people can leave contrasting identities at the door to work toward common goals.
I found solace online in these virtual third places that didn't care what I was, but who I was and what I was about. Having the ability to know others around the globe while never having a passport to vacation outside the United States (since my family was never financially able to do so) has shaped who I am today.
This is why tech competence, tech freedom, data privacy, and a decentralized Internet are deeply important to me. Being tech competent and learning how to identify questionable situations, content, and people on the Internet is how we protect people and kids online -- and people's privacy should be a priority due to the algorithms and development of LLMs through data scraping and social media for surveillance and other nefarious uses by tech corporations taking advantage of people's declining tech competence and awareness.