Dreaming of Collective Futures

Storyteller, Scholar, Educator

ABOUT
Justin de Leon, Ph.D. is the director of the Ethnic Studies program at Chapman University and is a Senior Advisor for the Mediation Program for University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. 

De Leon earned his Ph.D. in international relations with a focus on feminist theory and indigeneity and is completing a book project entitled Resurgent Visual Sovereignty (University of Nebraska Press). 

His research focuses on Indigenous sovereignty and ontological security through storytelling and filmmaking. De Leon is exploring relational approaches to community-based filmmaking.

Building a New Lodge: Native Youth and Peacebuilding

Chapter: De Leon, Justin and Jordan Bighorn. 2024. "Building a New Lodge: Native Youth and Peacebuilding." Found in Building Sustainable Peace with and for Young People: Examining Evidence, Trends, and Challenges, Eds. H. Berents, C. Bolten, S. McEnvoy-Levy, with Jordan Bighorn, Manchester University Press. Pg. 242-258.

Theorizing from the Land: House or Tipi of IR?

Article: De Leon, Justin. 2023. “Theorizing from the Land: House or Tipi of IR,” Millennium: Journal of International Studies 50(3): 601-838.

Long Kwento: An Invitation

Essay: De Leon, Justin. 2023. “Long Kwento: An Invitation.” Essay in Artist Maia Cruz Palileo. Sming Sming Books. Pg. 151-173.

Indigenous Sovereignty As the In-Between Space

Chapter: Wildcat, Matthew and Justin de Leon. 2023. “Indigenous Sovereignty As the In-Between Space: What Is and What Is Possible.” Found in Variations on Sovereignty: Snapshots of Political Contestation and Transformation from Brexit to the South China Sea. Eds. H. Černy, J. Grzybowski. Routledge. Pgs. 301-315.

The In-Between Space: Indigenous Sovereignties in Creative and Comparative Perspective

Article: Wildcat, Matthew and Justin de Leon. 2021. “The In-Between Space: Indigenous Sovereignties in Creative and Comparative Perspective.” Introduction to Special Issue of Borderlands: New Spaces in the Humanities 19(2): 1-28.

Preserving Values: Militarization and Powwows

Article: De Leon, Justin. 2021. “Preserving Values: Militarization and Powwows,” in Special Issue of Borderlands: New Spaces in the Humanities 19(2): 130-156.

Relationship of Responsibility: Indigeneity in the IR Classroom

Chapter: De Leon, Justin. 2021. “Relationship of Responsibility: Indigeneity in the IR Classroom.” Found in Teaching International Relations in a Time of Disruption. Eds. D. Hornsby and H. Smith. Palgrave McMillan. Pgs. 75-88.

Lakota Experiences of (In)Security

Article: De Leon, Justin. 2020. “Lakota Experiences of (In)Security: Cosmology and Ontological Security,” International Feminist Journal of Politics 22(1): 33-62.

Process as Product: Native American Filmmaking and Storytelling

Chapter: De Leon, Justin. 2020. “Process as Product: Native American Filmmaking and Storytelling.” Found in How Racialized Media is Designed, Delivered, and Decoded. Eds. M. Hughey and E. Lesser. New York University Press. Pgs. 114-136.

Moving Beyond Inclusivity

Essay: FitzGerald, Garrett and Justin de Leon. 2020. “Moving Beyond Inclusivity,” American Political Science Association, Roundtable on Race, Indigeneity, and the Global South: Missed Opportunities and Possible Futures, International History and Politics 6 (2). Pgs. 19-22.

 

Chapman University, Ethnic Studies

Courses: Introduction to Ethnic Studies, Decolonial Methodologies

8/1/2022
 

Occidental College, Critical Theory and Social Justice

Courses: Indigenous Feminisms, Settler Colonialism Studies, Contesting Native Sovereignty, Decolonial Approaches to Education, Racialization of Space

8/1/2021
 

University of Notre Dame

Courses: Social Justice and Action: Native American and Indigenous Insights, Decolonial Methodologies: Critical and Participatory Research.

8/1/2019
 

Vanderbilt University

Global Feminisms Collaborative

8/1/2018
 

UC San Diego, Ethnic Studies

Courses: Global Indigenous Studies; Race, Space, and Segregation: Native America; Cultural Worldviews of Indigenous America; Decolonizing Education; Latina/o Sexualities; US-Mexico Border in Comparative Perspective; Environmental Racism; Film Production and Social Transformation; Native American Literature (Spring 2018)

9/1/2016
 

University of Delaware, Political Science & International Relations

Courses: International Politics: Model UN

8/1/2016
UC San Diego
Student Evaluation, Ethnic Studies

There are teachers and then there are educators. Rather than stand up and talk at you for three hours, professor De Leon creates a conversation, albeit one that often involves critical theory. However, in doing this the instructor not only makes theory digestible, but helps students connect theoretical concepts to their actual lives, insuring that what is learned in class is something students can take with them long after the class ends. Instructor was very accessible and seemed to genuinely care about students learning and personal growth. Overall, great instructor and an A+ human being.

Univ. of Notre Dame
Amaryst Parks-King, Ph.D. Candidate

Justin de Leon [Visiting Assistant Professor] has been a major guide and inspiration. Through a teaching assistantship, I was able to work with and learn from de Leon. I admire his pedagogies, how he engages students, and his work on visual sovereignty and Indigenous storytelling, all of which has helped me to develop a clearer idea of how to weave together peace theory and education on an individual level. My current research has involved exploring how Black students imagine academic environments without antiblackness and in which they can thrive.

Link to testimonial
Occidental College
Student Evaluation, Critical Theory & Social Justice

Professor de Leon is, without a doubt, the best professor I have ever had. Not only did he make it clear that he cared about the material he was teaching us, he also went out of his way to show us that he cared about his students and our well-being. [...] Professor de Leon's questions and insights into the readings were always clear and interesting, and he did a phenomenal job of explaining even really complicated or nuanced subject matter. Unlike other CTSJ courses I have taken, Professor de Leon made sure that, although this class certainly covered some very depressing and heavy subject matter, we never walked away from class feeling defeated or like there wasn't anything we could do about the problems we discussed.

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