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K-State Today

February 12, 2018

Tatonetti to present about Indigenous HIV/AIDS activist Carole laFavor

Submitted by Patrice L. Scott

Lisa Tatonetti, professor of English, will present "Carole laFavor's Indigenous Erotics: Indigenous Feminism and HIV Activism in the 1980s and 1990s." The hourlong brownbag, sponsored by the Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance, will be held at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 21 in 119 Bluemont Hall. The event is free and the public is invited to attend. 

laFavor was a fascinating mix: an Ojibwe Indigenous HIV/AIDS activist, a novelist and a nurse. 

She worked on HIV education internationally and co-created the first lesbian as well as the first Indigenous HIV education materials/videos. laFavor also authored two lesbian detective novels in the '90s, which were recently re-released by the University of Minnesota Press. Tatonetti's presentation about laFavor's health sovereignty work will include audio and video of the activist and her allies. 

"Dr. Tatonetti's work to bring Carole laFavor's story to the forefront helps add important dimensions to our understanding of diversity," said Alex Red Corn, assistant professor of educational leadership and co-chair of the Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance. "Furthermore, laFavor's story shows how activism and social justice work takes on many different forms in and across Indigenous communities. Events like this brownbag make Indigenous people and issues visible at K-State, which is one of our primary goals as the Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance."