Juanita Brooks Lecture Series to host its first indigenous speaker Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale

Dixie State University Library’s 39th annual Juanita Brooks Lecture Series, in partnership with the DSU Native American Student Association and Multicultural Inclusion Student Association, will host Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale.

Denetdale will explore the impact Milton Snow’s original photography of Diné life on the Navajo Nation between 1937 and 1957. Snow took over 12,000 images during the 20 year period, and Denetdale will present how the Diné have used them to renew storytelling and give life to traditions.

The address is set to take place at 6 p.m. on April 7 via electronic broadcast.  A question and answer period with the speaker will follow the presentation. The lecture is free and the public is welcome to tune in.

“We are ecstatic Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale has agreed to join us for this year’s lecture,” Kelly Peterson-Fairchild, dean of library and open learning services at DSU, said. “This promises to be captivating exploration on the impact of primary images and documents can have on communities.”

Denetdale is a professor  and chair of American Studies at the University of New Mexico. The author of “Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito” and “Juanita” (2007), two book for young adults, she has also published numerous essays, articles and book chapters. She has been recognized for her scholarship and service to her nation and community with several awards, including the Rainbow Naatsiilid True Colors for her support and advocacy on behalf of the Navajo LGBTQI, the UNM Sarah Brown Belle award for service to her community and UNM’s Presidential Award of Distinction.

The Juanita Brooks Lecture Series celebrates the life and work of its namesake. Brooks, a historian whose work is well received by other historians and changed the landscape of LDS history, became a role model for LDS historians and women in research and academia. The annual lecture series is possible thanks to an endowment from Obert C. Tanner.

Tune into Dixie State University Library’s 39th annual Juanita Brooks Lecture Series at https://dixiestate.zoom.us/j/89107599354.