As a member of the Luiseño, San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, Dr. Olivia Chilcote has aimed to use her privilege in academia to address the issues and needs of the community.
One of the ongoing objectives of the tribe is to become federally recognized. Her current research explores those efforts.
“Pursuing this topic has really reinspired the tribe and really kind of helped propel our efforts further,” says Chilcote, assistant professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University (SDSU). “We have made some more progress towards crafting our narrative of our tribe. Just bringing people together around this shared topic.”
She was inspired by her mother, who served as a tribal council member for many years. As “research buddies,” Chilcote and her mother sort through archives and documents to further build on the existing historical groundwork.
“It has really made it so much more of a meaningful experience for me,” she says. “It keeps me grounded in our tribal community, knowing that I am working with these people and with my family. We are kind of doing this together and I am leveraging the access and resources that I have for our collective benefit.”
Her tribal community was what originally motivated Chilcote to earn an advanced degree.
She went on to earn both her master’s degree and doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, becoming the only member of her tribe to earn a Ph.D.
