“An incisive thinker and transformational teacher, DGW showed us how to put indigenous environmental justice perspectives at the core of our grassroots educational mission. In a series of innovative workshops over several years, DGW exposed IWS participants to the impacts of settler colonialism on surf culture and she leads us in our commitments to decolonial feminist thought and environmental justice action. As someone able to do both thinking and political work but who also knows how to build relationships, we consider ourselves very fortunate to have DGW at the forefront of our community of surf change activists.”
Krista Comer, Ph.D., Professor of English & Women’s Studies, Rice University and Director, Institute for Women Surfers
“It has been a privilege to collaborate with Native scholar and environmental justice advocate Dina Gilio-Whitaker, whose research, writing, deep knowledge, and strategic thinking skills are invaluable assets to anyone seeking to understand the pressing need for decolonization and Indigenizing environmental justice. Dina’s passion for Native studies, truth-telling, and teaching are a source of inspiration for all who are fortunate to read her books, hear her speak, and listen to her good counsel about the urgency of undoing the erasure of Indigenous Peoples.”
Mishy Lesser, Ed.D. Learning director, Upstander Project/Dawnland
“Your keynote presentation on September 12 made a powerful impact on the workshop participants, and built perfectly on the discussion that immediately preceded it. Several aspects of your presentation were especially valuable to our audience of Indigenous students, researchers and community members, and settler-colonist academic participants. First, the grounding of your presentation in history and theory provided an essential foundation for our understanding, and reinforced the value of theory to practice. Second, both your presentation and your book provided participants with language and arguments to express what many of them experience/believe but were challenged to articulate. Finally, the second half of your presentation and the Q&A that followed provided practical guidance and a pathway forward to decolonization in its literal and metaphorical senses. The impact of your presentation on the audience was clearly evident during the closing sessions of the workshop where each participant stated their goals for action moving forward.”
Center for Collaborative Conservation, Colorado State University, 2019
The Bellarmine Forum is an annual series of events around a chosen theme, highlighting interdisciplinary conversations and connections to student coursework. This year’s Forum explores the idea of Los Angeles and its future, with programs about L.A.’s neighborhood as sites of multicultural interaction, the new urbanism, and Latinx politics. The first event of the series, “On Native Lands,” asked us to look back to the history of settler colonialism, the displacement of indigenous peoples, and environmental destruction as we consider the legacies of those indigenous and environmental histories for the present and the future. I particularly appreciated your discussion of settler colonialism as environmental injustice and what that means for contemporary discussions of environmental justice, as well as the fascinating history of the role of surfing in drawing people towards the coast. The event was a great success, with upwards of 150 people in attendance!
Loyola Marymount University, 2019
Addressing University of Oregon Law School, Oct. 2017
DGW consulting 