The Birth of a Native Scholar

Comic by: Danielle Lucero

PhD Student: Justice Studies

Tribal Affiliation: Isleta Pueblo

I am a first-year doctoral student in the Justice Studies program at ASU. I am interested in Indigenous citizenship and identity. As a visual learner, I find myself drawing comics during lectures and making meaning through comics. I love manga and anime. I started drawing comics when I was in middle school because it helped me concentrate, and now it has become a significant form of self-care and stress relief.

This comic is about what it means to be a Native student wanting to do research that is rooted in traditional beliefs and community. It is autobiographical because I struggled a lot with finding a Pueblo voice in academia, and it was my family who would ground me and say I already have that voice; I am that scholar I’ve been searching for and to be proud of where I started and where I am now.