Overview

My research program cross cuts and integrates the fields of Development Sociology and American Indian Studies empirically driven community-based research that offers a distinctive and essential perspective for understanding sociological processes underlying identity, development, and community health. My contributions within, and between, my focal areas of research have been cumulative and mutually reinforcing and together address important questions critical to the lives of Native peoples.

Research Focus

My research program seeks to advance and integrate knowledge and practice in the fields of Development Sociology and American Indian Studies through theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions in three areas: (1) contemporary constructions of identity, (2) the social impact of economic development on community life and social organization, and (3) the relationship between health and community development.These three areas of research not only overlap, but are complimentary and synergistic. I have used a diverse range of methodological techniques, both qualitative and quantitative. This mixed or multidimensional approach has enabled me to engage my research questions from multiple directions and to progress toward integrative models that elucidate both "lived experiences " and the structural forces impacting on and influencing these experiences. My contributions to the broader sociological literature have been to refine our understanding of the processes and outcomes of social change affecting Native peoples, tribes, and nations. My contributions to the field of American Indian Studies have been to interrogate the creation and manifestation of conceptual categories of "race " and their power to (trans)form Native self-understanding and identity.

Outreach and Extension Focus

My outreach focus during 2007 included work on the Hopi Reservation where I organized and facilitated cancer information workshops to increase preventive screening. At the invitation of the Hopi Tribal Chairman, I participated in a working group tasked with developing a tribal review board to regulate research and the reservation. The resulting draft tribal ordinance is currently under consideration by the Hopi Tribal Council. During the summer of 2007, in collaboration with the Hopi Department of Health Services and with the consent of the Cornell University Institutional Review Board, I collected pilot study data on 185 community-dwelling adults in a door-to-door household survey in 2 villages on the Hopi Reservation. The study examined whether social capital was associated with knowledge about colorectal cancer and attitudes towards cancer screening. At the request of the Hopi Tribe, I assessed the extent to which lack of knowledge about, and culturally-based attitudes toward, colorectal cancer and screening might affect prevention behavior. In October 2007, at the invitation of the Hopi Tribal Council, I presented the results of my data collection project at the Hopi Health Summit. The data from the study will be used to assist the tribe with developing culturally sensitive and relevant intervention programs aimed at reducing cancer and cancer-related heath disparities among the reservation population. Throughout the study, I worked closely with representatives from the tribal government to ensure widespread participation and maximum utilization of the study results by the tribe. My other outreach activities, conducted on behalf of Cornell's American Indian Program, include activities aimed at recruiting American Indian undergraduate and graduate students, working with representatives from tribal community colleges and Indian tribes to identify and encourage promising American Indian applicants, and meeting with representatives from the Navajo Tribal Community College and Dine Policy Institute to discuss possible research collaborations.

Instruction Focus

At the undergraduate level I have taught Development Sociology's large introductory course, DSOC 1101: Introduction to Sociology and DSOC 3110: Social Movements. At the graduate level I have taught DSOC 6350: Indigenous Peoples and Globalization. My instructional goals are to : (1) effectively communicate the core concepts, theories, and methods of a given content area, (2) provide students with the skills and opportunity to critically evaluate and engage these concepts, theories, and methods, especially with regard to the sociocultural context from which they emerged, (3) help students use both their "experiential knowledge " and their critical perspective of this knowledge to inform and enrich their understanding of their social environment, and (4) provide the course content and classroom context to encourage students to think independently and responsibly.

Additional Links

• Development Sociology
• Link to CALS Research portal
• Link to CALS Impact statements

Professional Activities

• Seminar presentation, "Sumi'Nangwa, Nami'Nangwa: Hopi Philanthropy and Community Commitment to Higher Education. " Research Colloquium, Department of Education, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. - 2006
• "Cooperation, Collaboration, and Collegiality: Helping to Build the Field of American Indian Studies. " Invited speaker, Maintaining Connections: Natives in Academia and Community Unification, Activism, and Responsibility, conference organized by the Cornell Council of American Indian Graduate and Professional Students, November 5-6, 2004. - 2004
• Chat in the Stacks Book Talk, panel presentation on chapter included in Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty-First Century (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003), Mann Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. - 2004

Selected Publications

• Gonzales, Angela A., Thomas Lyson, and K. Whitney Mauer. 2007. "What Does a Casino Mean to a Tribe? Assessing the Impact of Casino Development on Indian Reservations in Arizona and New Mexico." Social Sciences Journal 44(3):405-419. 2007
• Gonzales, Angela A. "The Imprimatur of Recognition: the Federal Acknowledgement Process and the Legal De/Construction of American Indian Collective Identity. " Revised and resubmitted to Social Problems (Feb. 2007). 2007
• Gonzales, Angela A., Thomas Lyson, and Daniel Ahlquist. "Public Opinion Polls on Casino Gambling: Implications for Rural Economic Development in the United States. " Revised and resubmitted to International Gambling Studies (Feb. 2007). 2007
• Gonzales, Angela A., Judy Kertesz, and Gabrielle Tayac. "Eugenics as Indian Removal: Sociohistorical Processes and De(con)struction of American Indians in the Southeast. " The Public Historian 29(3). 2007
• Gonzales, Angela A., Thomas Lyson, and K. Whitney Mauer. "What Does Casino Mean to a Tribe? Assessing the Impact of Casino Development on Indian Reservations in Arizona and New mexico. " Social Sciences Journal. 2007
• Gonzales, Angela A., Judy Kert?sz, and Gabrielle Tayac. 2007. "Eugenics as Indian Removal: Sociohistorical Processes and the De(con)struction of American Indians in the Southeast. " The Public Historian 29(3):53-67. 2007
• Gonzales, Angela A., Jeffrey Henderson, Eva Garroutte, Andy Bogart, and Dedra Buchwald. "Influence of Cultural Factors on mammography Use Among American Indian Women. " Revised and resubmitted to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (March 2007). 2007
• Gonzales, A.A. "Reframing Theory, Reclaiming Identity: Reconfiguring Indigenous Identity through Narrativity and Relationality. " In J. Denetdale & G. Cajete (Eds.) Indigenous Research: Theory and Practice. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press. 2007
• Gonzales, A. (2003). "American Indians: Contemporary Reality, Future Trajectory. " Pp. 43-56 in Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty-First Century, edited by David L. Brown and Louis E. Swanson. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. 2003
• Gonzales, A. (2003). "Native American Communities. " Pp. 960-966 in Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual Village, edited by Karen Christensen and David Levinson. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 2003
• Gonzales, A. (2003). "Gaming and Displacement: Winners and Losers in American Indian Casino Development. " International Social Sciences Journal 175(1):123-133. 2003
• Gonzales, A.A., & Kertesz, J. "Engendering Identity and Power in Native North America. " In D. Vannoy (Ed.), Gender Mosaics: Social Perspectives. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Press. 2001
• Gonzales, A. (2001). "Urban (Trans)Formations: Changes in the Use and Meaning of American Indian Identity." Pp. 169-185 in American Indians and the Urban Experience edited by S. Lobo and K. Peters. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press. 2001

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