Mary Beth Jäger, BA, MSW
Bodéwadmi, Xicana, and German-descent
Pronouns: She/her & They/them
Positions(s):
Research Analyst, Native Nations Institute, University of Arizona
Email me: jager@arizona.edu
or follow me @mbdortiz
Mary Beth Jäger is a citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Xicana, and German-descent. She works as a research analyst for the Native Nations Institute (NNI) at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. Jäger earned a BA at Carroll College in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and a MSW focused in Social and Economic Development in Indigenous Communities from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.
Mary Beth’s work at the NNI expands across a diverse range of indigenous governance areas. Recently, her research focuses on Indigenous data and food sovereignty. Jäger serves as a Co-lead and Co-PI for the Indigenous Foods Knowledges Network, funded by the National Science Foundation (Award Number 1745499) and part of Navigating the New Arctic Initiative. The goal of this research coordination network is “to a develop a network comprised of Indigenous leaders, community practitioners, and scholars (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) who are focused on research and community capacity related to food sovereignty and Indigenous Knowledges” in the Arctic and US Southwest (ifkn.org). In addition, she serves as a Co-PI for the comparative study of COVID-19 impacts on Indigenous individuals’ food access, security and sovereignty in Alaska and the U.S. Southwest (NSF-OPP Award Numbers 203516). One key aspect of these two projects is co-producing knowledge with fellow Indigenous collaborators.
Overall, as a research analyst Mary Beth Jäger feels accountable to Indigenous People and Native nations the land and non-human kin she works with on various projects and her own Native nation.
Selected Publications:
Johnson, N., Erickson, K.S., Ferguson, D.B., Jäger, M.B., Jennings, L.L., Juan, A.R. Larson, S., Smythe, W.K.S., Strawhacker, C. Walker, A., & Carroll, S.R. (2021). The Impact of COVID-19 on food access for Alaska Natives in 2020. Arctic Report Card 2021, T.A. Moon, M.L. Drukenmiller, & R.L. Thoman, Eds., DOI: 10.25923/5cb7-6h06
Hiraldo, D., Carroll, S.R., David-Chavez, D. M., Jäger, M.B. & Jorgensen, M. (2020). Policy Brief: Native Nation Rebuilding Lessons for Tribal Research and Data Governance. Tucson: Native Nations Institute, University of Arizona.
Johnson, N,. Jäger, M.B., Jennings, L., Juan, A., Carroll, S.R., & Ferguson DB. (March 2020). Indigenous Foods Knowledges Network: Facilitating Exchange between Arctic and Southwest Indigenous Communities on Food and Knowledge Sovereignty.” Witness Community Highlights Arcus.org/witness-the-arctic
Jäger, M.B., Ferguson, D.B., Huntington, O., Johnson, M.K., Johnson, N., Juan, A., Larson, S., Pulsifer, P., Reader, T., Strawhacker, C., Walker, A., Whiting, D., Wilson, J., Yazzie, J., Carroll, S.R.. & Indigenous Foods Knoweldges Network (2019). Building an Indigenous Foods Knowledges Network Through Relational Accountability. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(B). doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.005
Telecommuting from the homelands of the Coast Salish, Duwamish, and Snohomish Peoples
Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance 