Rate My Professor Heidi Stark

Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark, a Turtle Mountain Ojibwe scholar, is an Associate Professor in the School of Indigenous Governance and a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria. She serves as Director of the Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement. Stark received her PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 2008, and her BA in American Indian Studies from the same institution. Her research centers on Indigenous law and governance, Indigenous politics in the United States and Canada, and Anishinaabe treaty-making relations with the United States and Canada. She conducts collaborative work with Indigenous communities to advance the resurgence of Anishinaabe political structures and institutions shaped by Anishinaabe philosophies, values, and teachings. Stark has secured various SSHRC grants supporting projects on Anishinaabe law and governance, community-engaged research practices, and Indigenous jurisdiction and infrastructure in the context of extractive industry projects.

Stark's publications include co-editing Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories with Jill Doerfler and Niigaanwewidam Sinclair (Michigan State University Press, 2013). She co-authored the third and fourth editions of American Indian Politics and the American Political System with David E. Wilkins (2010 and 2017). Notable articles are 'Marked by Fire: Anishinaabe Articulations of Nationhood in Treaty Making with the United States and Canada' (American Indian Quarterly, 2012), 'Nenabozho's Smart Berries: Rethinking Tribal Sovereignty and Accountability' (Michigan State Law Review), 'Criminal Empire: The Making of the Savage in a Lawless Land,' and 'The Trans/National Terrain of Anishinaabe Law and Diplomacy' (Journal of Transnational American Studies, 2012). Her book manuscript Unsettled: Anishinaabe Treaty-Relations and U.S./Canada State-Formation is in progress with University of Minnesota Press. In 2024, she was elected to the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists for advancing the restoration of Indigenous political authority and jurisdiction through innovative approaches to Indigenous law and governance.