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By Juan Pedraza
Brazilian tribal leader Marcus Luidson de Aráujo calls UND anthropologist Marcia Mikulak a good friend and colleague. And there's a good reason for that: Mikulak, a concert pianist-turned-scientist is set for a human rights mission to northern Brazil, where she'll work closely with Chief Marcos and his beleaguered Xukuru (pronounced Shoo-koo-roo) tribe.
Mikulak is passionate about human rights, not just in Brazil, but at home, too: here in Grand Forks, where she is an associate professor in the UND College of Arts and Sciences Department of Anthropology, she collaborates with the Grand Forks Community Violence Intervention Center. But next week, she's off to Brazil.
"I'll be working from the village of Pesqueira in Pernambuco, Brazil, where the Xukuru tribe lives in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco," says Mikulak, who's a devoted teacher with a high approval rating as well as a researcher. "This is a continuation of the work that I did under a UND Arts, Humanities, and Social Science internal grant last year. This year's mission to Brazil is part of her academic developmental leave."
"My work this year will provide for a prolonged period of uninterrupted social-action research with Marcos, other tribal leaders, and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to develop clear guidelines for identifying culturally important human rights abuses experienced by the Xukuru," said Mikulak, who speaks fluent Portuguese. Joseph Mandala, a UND student of international human rights law at the School of Law and a Master of Public Administration candidate, is collaborating with Mikulak on this project in Brazil.
"My expertise will help the tribe to identify human rights as cultural rights, and Mr. Mandala's research will provide them with specifics on indigenous international human rights cases," Mikulak said. "Joseph and I will develop strategies that assist in promoting and protecting the fundamental freedoms and human rights of the Xukuru people from a clearly identified cultural rights platform."
"My research will assist in current tribal activism and expand activities such that current civil cases and human rights abuses are clearly articulated from an international cultural human rights perspective," Mikuklak said. Student at UND will work with Mikulak's research will provide the basis for a course offered this spring through Honors titled "Indigenous Human Rights: Local to Global 392 (3 credits). Students will participate in Mikulak's research blog and in regular web-cam conference calls with indigenous tribal leaders.
Additionally, she plans to visit several Brazilian universities to encourage study abroad programs between those schools and UND.
"While in Brazil, I will present my work to students in primary, secondary, and university settings, encouraging awareness of the value of Indigenous peoples and their cultures," Mikulak said. "Presentations in primary, secondary, and university settings in North Dakota are also considered an important contribution of this research, with a goal to expand and enrich students understanding of diversity and its benefits."
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