In this first part of our first ever two-parter, we interview Souksavanh T. Keovorabouth. In this first episode we learn about this history of the Dine (Navajo) people and their matrilineal clans. We learn that queerness was always a part of Dine culture. Souksavanh explains the Relocation Act which moved their grandpa to Chicago and the Latter-day Saint Indian/Lamanite Placement Program when their mom, aunts, and uncles were placed in the program while their grandfather was in Chicago. Souksavanh offers a lot of history of the program's racism and how that racism continues today.
Souksavanh T. Keovorabouth, Diné is a Ph.D. candidate at Oregon State University in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a minor in Queer Studies and concentration in Indigenous Urban Studies and a Ph.D. Candidate at Macquarie University in Indigenous Studies. Their concentrated area of research is on Indigenous urban experience, Two-Spirit wellbeing, Relocation Act of 1950, and Native and Queer urbanization. Souksavanh is originally from Diné (Navajo) Nation but grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, is second generation Laotian, and Queer/Trans/Two-Spirit. You can connect with them on Instagram @souksavanh.t.keovorabouth.
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