Dr. Kelly Aguirre

Office hours

Fall 2025: Thursdays, 1:30-2:30 p.m. or by appointment.

Interests

• Indigenous politics
• decolonial and critical theory
• storytelling and narrative
• methodological ethics
• rhetoric and poetics
• neurodiversity and disability in decolonial discourses

About Dr. Aguirre

Kelly is an autistic queer mestiza of Nahua, ñuu savi, German-Russian and Welsh-English settler ancestry. Kelly’s areas of scholarship and interest are Indigenous, critical and decolonial political theory, methodological ethics, rhetoric and poetics, as well as the roles of theorists as witnesses and storytellers of political life. Recently she has begun work considering IBPOC experiences of disability and neurodiversity in academia and entanglements of race, gender, Indigeneity and disability in political theory and decolonial movements; including Indigenous feminist, Indigiqueer and neuroqueer interventions on issues of normativity and contributions to otherwise political imaginaries.

Kelly received a BA Honours in Politics from the University of Winnipeg (2007) and an MA in Politics from the University of Manitoba (2009). Her PhD is from the University of Victoria (2019).

Recent publications include chapters in Making Space for Indigenous Feminism (3^rd edition, Fernwood Press 2024) and Feministing in Political Science (University of Alberta Press, 2024). Kelly’s first work of life-writing will appear in a forthcoming  special issue on Indigenous Disability Studies for the Native American Studies journal, Wíčazo Ša Review. She is an affiliate of the Prairie Indigenous Relationality Network (PIRN) and Co-Applicant for the SSHRC supported project Critical Approaches to Indigenous Relationality (CAIR). Kelly currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAIS) and editorial committee for Between the Lines Books (BTL). She has presented work at numerous conferences including the meetings of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, Western Political Science Association, Canadian Political Science Association, American Political Science Association, Prairie Political Science Association/Indigenous Relationality Workshop, and International Studies Association.

Areas of Interest for Graduate Supervision

• Indigenous, Critical and Decolonial political theory
• Storytelling in theory and politics
• Decolonial methodologies and ethics in writing and research
• Indigenous, Black and People of Colour (IBPOC) experiences of disability and neurodiversity in academia and entanglements of race, gender, Indigeneity and disability in decolonial movements centered on relationships with land
• Indigenous feminist and Two-Spirit-queer politics and perspectives
• Imagination, creativity, mediation and speculation in political life

Teaching

Dr. Aguirre teaches courses on Indigenous politics.

Teaching 2025-26

Fall 2025:

• POLI 263: Indigenous Politics

Spring 2026:

• POLI 363: Indigenous Politics in Canada
• POLI 463: Seminar: Violence to Indigenous Lands and Bodies

Publications

Works in progress

• "Called to Witness: Considerations for Indigenous storywork in political theory scholarship" (Under Review)
• Re-Storying Political Theory: Re-Storying Political Theory: Indigenous Storywork Refusing Colonial Apprehension (book manuscript in progress).

Books

• Re-Storying Political Theory: Re-Storying Political Theory: Indigenous Storywork Refusing Colonial Apprehension (book manuscript in progress).
• Editor, with Todd Lee Ormiston and Jacquie Green, S’TEṈISTOLW̱ : Moving Indigenous Education Forward. Victoria, BC: John Charlton Publishing, 2020.

Book chapters

• With Mariam Georgis and Sarah Munawar “Your Absence is Not an Accident: storying feminist friendship from dissonance to dissidence” in Nisha Nath, Stephanie Paterson, Alana Cattapan and Fiona MacDonald Eds. Feministing in Political Science: A Manifesta for Change in the Academy. University of Alberta Press, forthcoming (2023).
• "Decolonization is Also Metaphorical: Indigenous Feminist and Queer-Two Spirit Storywork Matters" in Gina Starblanket Ed. Making Space for Indigenous Feminism (Third Ed.), Fernwood Publishing, forthcoming (2023).
• "Telling Stories: Idle No More, Indigenous Resurgence and Political Theory," in Elaine Coburn Ed. More Will Sing Their Way to Freedom: Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence, Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2015.

Journal articles

• 2025  “LanDis soc ia t io n, an autiehistoria.” Special Issue on Indigeneity and Disability, Wicazo Sa Review, forthcoming
• "Apprehending Indigenous Decolonial Movements: Questions on Recursivity in Critical Theory Scholarship." 2021 in "Robert Nichols in Conversation With Kelly Aguirre, Phil Henderson, Cressida J. Heyes, Alana Lentin, and Corey Snelgrove". Journal of World Philosophies 6 (2):181-222.
• "Called to Witness: Considerations for Indigenous storywork in political theory scholarship" (Under Review)
• With Sarah Marie Wiebe, Amy Becker, Leslie Brown, Israyelle Claxton, Brent Angell "Travelling Together? Navigating the Practice of Collaborative Engagement In Coast Salish Communities" in Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-engaged research, teaching, and learning 2.1 Special Issue: Engaging With Indigenous Communities (Spring 2016): 125-144.

Presentations

• American Political Science Association, Vancouver BC (September 11-14, 2024)
  Panel: Grief, Kinship and Storytelling
  Paper: “A queer gathering?: Approaching the kitchen table.”

• Western Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (March 28-30, 2024)
  Panel: Theorizing with Literary Inspiration
  Paper: “Visiting with my Aunties in Dark Times: Re-membering Kinship between Arendt and Maracle.”

• Indigenous Relationality Workshop at the Prairie Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Banff (September 22-24, 2023)
  Panel: Geography, Kinship, and Resistance II
  Paper: “Visiting with my Aunties in Dark Times: Re-membering Kinship between Arendt and Maracle.” 

• Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Toronto, Toronto (May 11-13, 2023)
  Panel: “Practicing Good Relationality in Indigenous Research Contexts”
  Paper: “Called to Witness: Considerations for Indigenous storywork in political theory scholarship, revisited”

• Indigenous Relationality Workshop, Prairie Political Science Association Annual Meeting – Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta (September 17-18, 2022)
  Paper: "Towards Counter-Ableism in Resurgence Discourse"
• Transcending Settler Colonialism: Decolonization, Reconciliation, and Transformation, McGill, Montreal, Quebec (May 26-27, 2022)
  Paper: "Decolonization is Also Metaphorical: Indigenous Feminist and Queer-Two Spirit Storywork Matters"
• Indigenous Feminisms Symposium, UVic (April 21 -23, 2022)
  Panel: "Critical Interventions on Normativity"
  Paper: "Decolonization is Also Metaphorical: Indigenous Feminist and Queer-Two Spirit Storywork Matters"
• American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference (September 30-October 3, 2021)
  Panel: Indigenous Political Thought and Pluralism
  Paper: "Towards Counter-Abelist Dialogue in Indigenous Decolonial Politics"
• Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference (June 7-10, 2021)
  Panel: Listening Across Lifeworlds in Indigenous Politics
  Paper: "Counter-Abelist and Neurodivergent Challenges for Indigenous Decolonial Politics"
• Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Annual Conference, U of Waikato, Hamilton NZ (June 26-29, 2019)
  Paper: "Called to Witness: Methodology and the ethical imperative for Indigenous storytelling in political theory scholarship"
• Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, (June 4-6, 2019) Paper: "Called to Witness: Methodology and the ethical imperative for storytelling Indigenous political theory scholarship"
• International Studies Association Annual Conference, Baltimore, Maryland US (February 22–25, 2017)
  Panel: Epistemic Authority and Changing Practices of Dissent
  Paper: "Practices of Refusal: Embracing Damnation, Enacting Self-Determination"