Praise for Rebecca Macklin's work with indigenous communities

Comparative literature PhD candidate Rebecca Macklin has been recognised by Cornell University for her engagement with local Native American communities.

Comparative literature PhD candidate Rebecca Macklin has been recognised by Cornell University for her engagement with local Native American communities.

Rebecca is currently undertaking a PhD in comparative literature here at Leeds. Her research has a particular focus on contemporary Native American and South African fiction, and draws together Indigenous, postcolonial and world literature discourses, to comparatively explore transnational engagements with globalization and literary articulations of decolonial resistance.

For the past year, she has been working at Cornell University as a Fulbright Visiting Student Researcher, or Fulbright scholar, attached to both the Department of English and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program (AIISP).

As her time at Cornell draws to a close, the University has highlighted her strong commitment to engaging with local Native American communities, including volunteering with the Promising Futures outreach programme and tutoring local high school students from the Onondaga Nation.

Professor Eric Cheyfitz, who has been Rebecca's advisor during her time at Cornell, was similarly positive. "I feel honored that Rebecca chose to spend her Fulbright year working with me at Cornell,” he said, "She is doing important work in comparative indigenous studies and has a deep commitment to the field, not only as a scholar but as an activist.”

Rebecca has spoken highly of Cornell and the opportunities it has provided, saying: "It was really important to me to go somewhere with a specific program in American Indian and Indigenous Studies, an adviser who was interested in my work, and a place that has real connections with indigenous communities."

To find out more about Rebecca's fantastic work, read the full article on the Cornell Chronicle website.