Morgan Mowatt

Brief Bio:

My name is Noxs Sim maa’y (Lax Seel) and I am Gitxsan, from Gitanmaax, through my late father Jack Mowatt (Diihadixs). My multidisciplinary scholarship takes two broad approaches to Indigenous sovereignty. The first is human and more-than-human focused, which engages the many ways we conceptualize and actualize Indigenous sovereignty from our lands, waters, spirits, bodies, nations, relationships and more. The second takes on Indigenous-state diplomacies and the ways in which Indigenous legal and political authority (as process) shapes and transforms future possibilities between Indigenous nations and the state.

In community I work with IRS survivors, Black, Indigenous, and communities of colour and especially young people (from k-12 and young adults) to support their varied visions for community-building, empowerment and future-building. My work takes the form of academic interventions, arts-based healing praxes, community-led and participatory research, and educational content creation, among others. Indigenous sovereignty and our shared, liberated futures are accountable to feminist, queer, anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-ableist and anti-colonial ways of knowing and being, and I work to embed all my scholarship and relationships within these frameworks.

Research Interests: Indigenous legal and political authority/sovereignty; Indigenous-state governance and “rights” relating to families, communities, nations and environment; Indigenous youth education, empowerment, and belonging; community and youth arts-based praxes; Indigenous (youth and community) gender, sexuality, and wellness; Indigenous liberation and inter-community relationships; and non-reformist reform relating to Indigenous peoples and our various intersecting identities.

Sample Publications:

Mowatt, M., Wildcat, M., & Starblanket, G. (2024). Indigenous Sovereignty and Political Science: Building an Indigenous Politics Subfield. Annual Review of Political Science, 27(1), 301–316. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-041322-050512

Mowatt, M., de Finney, S., Wright Cardinal, S., Mowatt, G., Tenning, J., Haiyupis, P., Gilpin, E., Harris, D., MacLeod, A., & Claxton, N. X. (2020). ȻENTOL TŦE TEṈEW̱ (together with the land): Part 1: Indigenous land- and water-based pedagogies. International Journal of Child, Youth & Family Studies IJCYFS, 11(3), 12–33. https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs113202019696

de Finney, S., Wright Cardinal, S., Mowatt, M., Claxton, N. X., Alphonse, D., Underwood, T., Kelly, L., & Andrew, K. (2020). ȻENTOL TŦE TEṈEW̱ (together with the land) Part 2: Indigenous Frontline Practice as Resurgence. International Journal of Child, Youth & Family Studies IJCYFS, 11(3), 34–55. https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs113202019698