Abigail Echo-Hawk’s father is a from the Pontee nation in Oklahoma and her mother is from Matanuska Lake, Alaska. She grew up in Matanuska Lake on traditional lands, which I think is amazing that her family still has their original land. Every time Abigail is home she takes her shoes off and stands in the water, while looking at the mountains, because this grounds her. Abigail is living her dream job, so she invited all of her family to watch her speak and to dinner afterwards. While at dinner, her uncle, Uncle Fred, told her “you don’t speak Indian no more.” This hit Abigail deep, and she realized she conormed herself to western research and she did not present her family or who she was. She understood she stepped out of the water and she was stuck in concrete.…show more content… Abigail continues to explain how research began with the indigenous people. Abigail and her family would always pick blueberries because they knew the nutritional value they had. They would also give these blueberries to children and elders because everyone knew they needed them the most. She told a story about a little boy and his family who used a metal tool to pick the blueberries, but Abigail knew that these would harm the plants causing no growth of blueberries for two years. Just like these blueberries, research can have an easy way out but that can cause damage that will need time to
