Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Ruby King Social Science

Colonial Impacts of Fire Suppression on Indigenous Women, and the Return of Fire as a Healing Medicine

Scholars Journal

Ruby’s research focuses on the relationship between the revitalization of culturally prescribed burning through events such as the Karuk Women-In-Fire Training Exchange and the wellbeing of Indigenous women and femmes in Karuk Aboriginal Territory. Historically, settler colonial policies have prohibited Native cultural burning that is integral to traditional ecological knowledge and has sustained ecosystems since time immemorial. Additionally, Karuk women have applied fire to the land to generate heather basketry materials and support traditional foods for human and animal populations. This project will use data gathered through interviews and surveys to evaluate the benefits of culturally prescribed burning for the land as well as the people who apply fire to the landscape, especially Indigenous women and femmes who have experienced marginalization and violence under settler colonialism.”