Sarah Deer (born November 9, 1972) is a Native American lawyer from the

Muscogee (Creek) Nation The Muscogee Nation, or Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy, a large group of indigenous peoples of the South ...

of Oklahoma. She is a "University Distinguished Professor" of Indigenous Studies, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Public Affairs and Administration at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, where she also received her B.A. and J.D. Deer began her efforts of 25+ years supporting Native sexual assault victims while volunteering as a rape crisis advocate during her undergraduate degree, unfolded in her most recent book, ''The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America'' (2015). She was a 2014 MacArthur fellow and has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2019. Deer advocates on behalf of survivors of sexual assault and

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

, primarily within Native American communities. She has been credited for her "instrumental role" in the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which "recognizes that the inherent right of tribal nations includes criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian defendants accused of domestic violence", a long fought for provision. Deer coauthored, with Bonnie Claremont,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

's 2007 report ''Maze of Injustice, ''documenting sexual assault against Native American women, which supported her testimony that is credited in the passage of the Tribal Law and Order Act in 2010. She has served on the Prairie Island Indian Community Court of Appeals since 2013 and been Chief Justice since 2016. Since 2015, she has also served as an appellate judge for the White Earth Nation. Deer advocates for

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

, and trans politics in Indigenous communities. She is most acknowledged for her activism to stop violence against Native American women. She has received many national awards, including the Allied Professional Award and Crime Victim Service Award from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2011, the Spirit of Excellence Award from the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

in 2016, and is in both the Mvskoke (Creek) Nation Hall of Fame (2015) and National Women’s Hall of Fame (2019) for her accomplishments. In 2020, she was chosen as both a Andrew Carnegie Fellow and the Honorary Doctorate Recipient of Humane Letters from Brooklyn College. Most recently, Deer has been working on Indigenous feminist legal theory (IFLT), working to restructure the current law systems built under colonial, patriarchal, racist boundaries.

Bibliography

Books

* * * * *

Articles

* Deer, Sarah
Feminist Jurisprudence in Tribal Courts: An Untapped Opportunity
(2023). Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Vol. 34, No. 2, p. 80–87. * Deer, Sarah
(En) gendering Indian law: Indigenous feminist legal theory in the United States
(2019). Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Vol. 31, No.1, p. 1–34. * Deer, Sarah; Warner, Elizabeth Ann Kronk, Raping Indian Country"(2019). Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, Vol. 38, No. 1, p. 31–95. * Deer, Sarah
NATIVE PEOPLE AND VIOLENT CRIME: Gendered Violence and Tribal Jurisdiction
(2018). Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, Vol. 15, No. 1, p. 89–106. * Deer, Sarah
Bystander No More? Improving the Federal Response to Sexual Violence in Indian Country
(2017-08-01). Utah Law Review, Vol. 2017, No. 4, Article 7. * Deer, Sarah; Murphy, Liz
"Animals May Take Pity on Us": Using Traditional Tribal Beliefs to Address Animal Abuse and Family Violence Within Tribal Nations
(2017-01-01). Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 43, No. 4. * Farley, Melissa et al., The prostitution and trafficking of American Indian/Alaska Native women in Minnesota (2016). American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, Vol. 23, No.1, p. 65-104. * Woolman, Joanna; Deer, Sarah
Protecting Native Mothers and Their Children: A Feminist Lawyering Approach
(2014-01-01). William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, No. 3. * Deer, Sarah; Knapp, Cecilia
Muscogee Constitutional Jurisprudence: Vhakv Em Pvtakv (The Carpet Under the Law)
(2013-01-01). Tulsa Law Review, Vol. 49, No.1, p. 125–181. * Deer, Sarah; Jacobson, John
Dakota Tribal Courts in Minnesota: Benchmarks of Self-Determination
(2013-01-01). William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 39, No. 2. * Deer, Sarah
Relocation Revisited: Sex Trafficking of Native Women in the United States
(2010-01-01). Faculty Scholarship, 157. * Deer, Sarah
Decolonizing Rape Law: A Native Feminist Synthesis of Safety and Sovereignty
(2009). Wicazo Sa Review, Vol. 24, No. 2, p. 149–167. * Deer, Sarah
Sovereignty of the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Rape Law Reform and Federal Indian Law
(2005). Suffolk University Law Review, Vol. 38, p. 455. * Martell, Carrie; Deer, Sarah
Heeding the Voice of Native Women: Toward an Ethic of Decolonization
(2005-01-01). North Dakota Law Review, Vol. 81, No. 4, p. 807–822. * Deer, Sarah
Toward an Indigenous Jurisprudence of Rape
(2010-10-13). Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy, Vol. 14, 2004–2005. * Deer, Sarah
Federal Indian Law and Violent Crime: Native Women and Children at the Mercy of the State
(2004). Social Justice, Vol. 31, No. 4, p. 17–30. * Deer, Sarah; Tatum, Melissa
Tribal Efforts to Comply with VAWA's Full Faith and Credit Requirements: A Response to Sandra Schmieder
(2003-12-01) Tulsa Law Review, Vol. 39, No. 2, p. 403–418. * Deer, Sarah
Expanding the Network of Safety: Tribal Protection Orders for Survivors of Sexual Assault
(2003-01-01). Tribal Law Journal, Vol. 4, No.1, 2003-2004.

References

External links

Profile at William Mitchell

''Maze of Injustice''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deer, Sarah 1972 births Living people 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century Native American people Hamline University faculty Muscogee (Creek) Nation people MacArthur Fellows Native American lawyers Native American academics Place of birth missing (living people) University of Kansas School of Law alumni University of Kansas alumni 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century Native American women American women academics 20th-century Native American writers 20th-century Native American women LGBTQ Native Americans Native American feminists American feminists Muscogee writers Muscogee women writers