Indigenous Studies associate professor Renae Watchman has been selected for a prestigious Obama Fellowship in Germany, where she will work on filling a gap in scholars’ understanding of transnationalism and America.

The Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies, based at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, offers research and teaching relating to the Americas in a global context.

As part of her fellowship in November, Watchman will deliver a keynote address: “Hane’tonomy: Restoring/Re-storying Diné Presence and Futurisms with Hózhǫ́.”

Watchman, a citizen of the Navajo Nation (Shiprock Branch in New Mexico) is the first Indigenous Fellow at the Institute.

“Turtle Island is vast and spans North America, with a diversity of Indigenous groups and peoples,” Watchman says.

“I will expand on my research of contemporary Indigenous media (Diné films and literary arts), to unearth how creatives discuss issues that threaten Indigenous lives and communities, such as Elder and youth wellness, language reclamation and revitalization, climate change, resource extraction, #landback, and economic and social disparities.”

Before she leaves for Germany, we caught up with Watchman to talk about her fellowship.

How did it feel being awarded this fellowship? Why do you think it’s so special?  

I was very surprised to get the news that I was selected as an Obama Fellow for a month during the Fall 2024 term! I remember sending my partner a text that said: “Guess who is an Obama Fellow?”

It’s special because I have a strong and deep-rooted history with Germany, and it’s very rare for an Indigenous scholar to focus on their own research in a place that holds Indigenous Peoples in general, in a romanticized light. To be able to rupture this light, to be invited to Germany to conduct my own research seems like a fairy tale in its own right.

I feel pretty fortunate.

It’s an honour to be able to work on a long-term research project, that is likely to form the foundation for my second book, which I plan to work on during a future research leave.

What will you be doing during the fellowship?  

I plan to use this time to read and screen! I will be taking an entire suitcase of Diné-authored fiction (novels, poetry, short stories, comics, and YA lit, as well as films).

Specifically, I will be reading Diné young adult literature by Brian Young, who wrote Healer of the Water Monster (2021) and Heroes of the Water Monster (2023). Young’s books reinvent traditional Diné oratory, which stem from the vibrant oeuvre of Navajo journey narratives (origin stories).

I am interested in how young adults use literature such as Diné Bildungsromane, comments on water (hydrology), healthy male relationships and Elder knowledge to imagine contemporary Peacemakers and Protectors amid Modern Monsters.

In addition to this research, I have to give one keynote on Nov. 21, and throughout the fellowship, I have been asked to give three class lectures: On Dine cultural and literary history; “transnational American studies”; and Indigenous autobiography — which I began exploring with my first co-edited book Indianthusiasm: Indigenous Responses. As students in Europe, they are far removed from the realities of Indigenous issues.

What do you hope to get out of your time with the Obama Institute?  

I honestly hope to get through all the books and films I will be taking. It’s a time to focus on my research, and I am very grateful for being selected to do this.

I speak fluent conversational German, have a doctorate in German Studies, jointly with the graduate program in Humanities from Stanford University, which I earned in 2007, and am interested in spending lots of time in Mainz and greater Germany as part of my fellowship tenure.