BIOGRAPHY
A proud rez girl from Lame Deer, Montana, Desi is a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and Chicana. She was born and raised on Cheyenne homelands where real and imagined reservation borders cross everyone. Desi is a dual PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Arizona and demography at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. She has partnered with Indigenous communities in the U.S. and internationally as a researcher and data advocate for more than ten years.
Desi’s research examines the intersection of race, indigeneity, citizenship, and inequality. With a focus on Indigenous futures, her current research explores the racialization of Indigenous identity and group boundary making, Indigenous population statistics, and data for health and economic justice on Indian Reservations.
Desi is the Co-Founder of the U.S. Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network, which helps ensure that data for and about Indigenous nations and peoples in the U.S. (American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians) are utilized to advance Indigenous aspirations for collective and individual wellbeing. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Database, and on the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations since her appointment in 2013.
She is a proud Stanford University alumna where she earned her B.A. in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (‘07) and her M.A. in Sociology (‘08).
Beyond research, teaching, and advocacy, Desi is in the throes of raising a toddler, enjoys a slow game of pick-up basketball, and strives to be a good relative.