Profile picture of Leilani Sabzalian

Leilani Sabzalian

Associate Professor
College of Education, Critical and Sociocultural Studies in Education, Curriculum & Teaching, Curriculum and Teacher Education, Educational Foundations, IRES, Sapsikwala Program
leilanis@uoregon.edu
Phone: 541-346-1535
Office:
Research Interests: Indigenous Education, Native Feminisms, Curriculum Studies, Teacher Education, Elementary Social Studies Education

Biography

Dr. Leilani Sabzalian (Alutiiq/Sugpiaq) is an Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies in Education and Co-Director of the Sapsik’ʷałá Program at the University of Oregon. Her work focuses on supporting the next generation of Indigenous educators to become teachers within their communities and creating more just and affirming spaces for Indigenous students in public schools. Her research also prepares educators to challenge colonialism in curriculum, policy, and practice, and implement important Indigenous-led initiatives, including Tribal History/Shared History, a law that mandates curriculum on tribal history and sovereignty in all K-12 public schools in Oregon.  

She is the author of several books, including Indigenous Children’s Survivance in Public Schools, Teaching Critically About Lewis and Clark: Challenging Dominant Narratives in K-12 Curriculum co-authored with Drs. Alison Schmitke and Jeff Edmundson, and the forthcoming text, Teaching Indigenous Studies: An Introduction for K-12 Educators, co-authored with Dr. Meredith McCoy and Helen Thomas.

Education

2015    Doctor of Philosophy, Critical and Sociocultural Studies, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

2003    Master of Education, Educational Leadership, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

2002    Bachelor of Arts, Educational Studies, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

Honors and Awards

2024    Bobby Wright Award for Early Career Contributions to Research in Indigenous Education, American Educational Research Association (AERA) Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Special Interest Group (SIG)

2021    Fellow, Williams Council Fellowship Award

2020    Outstanding Book Award, American Educational Research Association (AERA) 

2020    Human Rights Leadership Award, Springfield Alliance for Education and Respect (SAFER)

2019    Indigenous Educator of the Year, Oregon Indian Education Association

2018    Honorable Mention, National Council of Teachers of English English Journal Edwin M. Hopkins Award

2017    Curriculum Inquiry Writing Institute Fellow, Ontario, CA

2017    Outstanding Dissertation Award, Narrative SIG, American Educational Research Association

2016    Outstanding Dissertation Award, Division B, American Educational Research Association

2014    National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship

Publications

BOOKS

Schmitke, A., Sabzalian, L., & Edmundson, J. (2020). Teaching critically about Lewis and Clark: Challenging dominant narratives in K-12 curriculum. New York: NY. Teachers College Press. https://www.tcpress.com/teaching-critically-about-lewis-and-clark-9780807763704
 
Sabzalian, L., (2019). Indigenous children's survivance in public Schools. Routledge Education Series: Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education. Series Editors Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang. https://www.routledge.com/Indigenous-Childrens-Survivance-in-Public-Schools/Sabzalian/p/book/9781138384507
 
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES (If you cannot access an article and would like a copy, please email me.)
 
Brooks, S., Sabzalian, L., Springer, S., & Weiser-Nieto, R. (2023). “We should have held this in a circle”: White ignorance and answerability in outdoor education. Journal of Environamental Education, 53(7), 1-18.
 
Jacob, M.M., & Sabzalian, L., (2022). Reclaiming Indigenous kinship education: Lessons from the Sapsik'ʷałá Program. NEOS. 14(2), 1-7. https://acyig.americananthro.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Commentary-Jacob-Sabzalian.pdf 
 
Sabzalian, L., (2021). Indigenous internationalism: Land-centered literacies and education for resurgence. Research in the Teaching of English, 56(1), 112-115.
 
Sabzalian, L., Shear, S.B., & Snyder, J. (2021). Standardizing Indigenous erasure: A TribalCrit and QuantCrit analysis of K-12 US civics and governemnt standards. Theory & Research in Social Education, 47(3), 321-359. 
 
McCoy, M.L., Sabzalian, L., & Ender, T. (2021). Alternative strategies for family history projects: Rethinking family history projects in light of Indigenous perspectives. The History Teacher, 53(3), 473-508. 
 
Cordes, A., & Sabzalian, L., (2020). The urgent need for anticolonial literacy. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 22(2), 182-201. https://ijme-journal.org/index.php/ijme/article/view/2443/1379
 
Sabzalian, L., Morrill, A., & Edmo, S. (2019). Deep organizing and Indigenous studies legislation in Oregon. Journal of American Indian Education, 58(3), 34-57.
 
Jacob, M.M., Beavert, V., Anderson, R., Sabzalian, L., & Jansen, J. (2019). The importance of Ichishkíin in advancing Indigenous feminist education. Feminist Studies, 45(2/3), 1-22.
 
Jacob, M.M., Sabzalian, L., RunningHawk Johnson, S., Jansen, J., & Morse, G.S. (2019). We need to make action NOW, to help keep the language alive: Navigating tensions of engaging Indigenous educational values in university education. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(1/2), 126-136. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajcp.12374
 
Sabzalian, L., (2019). The tension between Indigenous sovereignty and multicultural citizenship education: Toward an anticolonial approach to civic education. Theory and Research in Social Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00933104.2019.1639572
 
Sabzalian, L., Miyamoto-Sundahl, R., & Fong, R. (2019). The time is now: Taking initiative for Indigenous studies in elementary curriculum. Oregon Journal of the Social Studies, 7(1), 6-19. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nu7Cba5ruZKiXMsbij8ZU2QEo1GQYp_h/view
 
Sabzalian, L., (2018). Curricular standpoints and Native feminist theories: Why Native feminist theories should matter to curriculum studies. Curriculum Inquiry, 4(3) 1-23. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03626784.2018.1474710
 
Jacob, M.M., Sabzalian, L., Jansen, J., Tobin, T.J., Vincent, C.G., & LaChance, K.M. (2018). The gift of education: How Indigenous Knowledges can transform the future of public education. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 20(1), 157- 185. http://www.ijme-journal.org/index.php/ijme/article/view/1534
 
Sabzalian, L., (2016). Native feminisms in motion. English Journal, 106(1), 23 – 30. http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1061_sep2016/EJ1061Native.pdf
 
PEER REVIEWED PRACTIONER JOURNAL ARTICLES
 
Turtle Island Social Studies Collective. (2019). Beyond Pocahontas: Learning from Indigenous women changemakers. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 31(3), 7-13. https://www.socialstudies.org/pulblications/ssyl/january-february2019/beyond-pocahontas-learning-from-indigenous-women-changemakers
 
Shear, S.B., Sabzalian, L., & Buchanan, L. (2018). Teaching Indigenous sovereignty in elementary civics education. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 31(1), 12-18. https://www.socialstudies.org/publications/ssyl/september-october2018/affirming-indigenous-sovereignty
 
CHAPTERS IN EDITED BOOKS
 
Turtle Island Social Studies Collective. (2022). Indigenous futurities and the possibilities of social studies. In A. E. Vickery & N. Naseem Rodríguez (Eds.), Critical Race Theory and social studies futures: From the nightmare of racial realism to dreaming out loud (pp. 153-163). Teachers College Press.
 
Turtle Island Social Studies Collective. (2022). Insurgence must be red: Connecting Indigenous studies and social studies education for anticolonial praxis. In S. B. Shear, N. H. Merchant, & W. Au (Eds). Insurgent social studies: Scholar-educators disrupting erasure and marginality (pp. 9-29). Gorham, ME: Myers Education Press.
 
Morrill, A., & Sabzalian, L., (2022). Survivance-based inquiries in and beyond the academy. In A. R. Tachine & Z Nicolazzo (Eds.), Weaving an otherwise: Reframing qualitative research through relational lenses (pp. 29-43). Sterline, VA: Stylus Publishing.
 
Sabzalian, L., Malliett, D., & Helms, H. (2020). Indigenous education on Indigenous terms: A collective effort to support Indigenous education in a public school district. In M. Jacob & S. RunningHawk Johnson (Eds.). On Indian ground: A return to Indigenous knowledge: Generating hope, leadership, and sovereignty through education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Press.
 
Sabzalian, L., & Shear, S.B.. (2018). Confronting colonial blindness in civics education: Recognizing colonization, self-determination, and sovereignty as core knowledge for elementary social studies teacher education. In S. Shear, C.M. Tschida, E. Bellows, L.B. Buchanan, & E.E. Saylor (Eds.). (Re)Imagining elementary socialsStudies: A controversial issues reader (153-176). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Press.

Research

Dr. Sabzalian’s research areas of interest include: Indigenous education, Native feminisms, curriculum studies, teacher education, and elementary social studies education.