| Summary: | Rachel Wilbur is a current Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she serves as co-president of the First Nations Graduate Circle. Her research focus is on the health impacts of historical and intergenerational trauma in contemporary Native American and Alaska Native populations. The interview begins with Rachel speaking about her upbringing and homeschooling on the coast of Washington. Though she grew up around other American Indian students and tribal schools and her mother was Tolowa Indian, she wasn't very connected to the American Indian community growing up. However, she became interested in American Indian communities after reading about American Indian health in textbooks. She has always been interested in healthcare, but also learned to love Anthropology after realizing that she cared more about learning why people got sick than about treating illnesses. She describes moving from Washington to North Carolina to get her degree in Public Health and not wanting to go into academia in the future despite pursuing a Ph.D. in Anthropology. Later in the interview, she talks about her research on the impact of historical trauma on contemporary native health and why she sees it as important. She talks about community-based research being important to her and traveling to Alaska to learn more about the Yupik tribe and to learn about fishing. She is also interested in learning about tribes where she was born in Northern California, tribes in North Carolina, and tribes in Washington, where she grew up and describes each community. She speaks about her mother’s growing up in California and her grandfather being involved in the tribal community; however, her mother being less active in the tribe. She describes visiting her tribe in California as a kid and wanting to reconnect with her tribe as an adult. In addition to her research on historical trauma on Native American health, she is also researching the physiological and psychological impact of high stress and sleep deprivation on commercial fishing boats and the impact of rural-urban migration on gastrointestinal diseases in a large population in China. She then talks about not labeling herself as an activist and feeling tokenized and having to represent Native American community opinions. She feels odd about being labeled an activist since she feels like she can only speak from her experiences. At UNC she has seen the Native American activism most around the DAPL pipeline, but believes that most of the activism is through community building. She also speaks about being co-president of the First Nations Graduate Circle and their focus on recruiting Native American graduate students. She also mentions how the administration has cut funding for Native student recruitment, leaving much of the recruitment to graduate students; however, she mentions feeling grateful for UNC faculty and administrators that have supported her and other minority students.
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