Farina King, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, is the Horizon Chair of Native American Ecology and Culture and Associate Professor of Native American Studies (NAS) at the University of Oklahoma (OU). King currently serves as the interim chair of the OU NAS Department. She received her Ph.D. at Arizona State University in History. King specializes in twentieth-century Native American Studies, especially Indigenous experiences in boarding schools. She is the author of The Earth Memory Compass: Diné Landscapes and Education in the Twentieth Century; co-author with Michael P. Taylor and James R. Swensen of Returning Home: Diné Creative Works from the Intermountain Indian School; and author of Diné dóó Gáamalii: Navajo Latter-day Saint Experiences in the Twentieth Century. She is one of the series editors for the Lyda Conley Series on Trailblazing Indigenous Futures of the University Press of Kansas, and she co-hosts the Native Circles podcast with Sarah Newcomb, Davina Two Bears, and Eva Bighorse. She is the past President of the Southwest Oral History Association (2021-2022). Previously, between 2016 and 2022, she was Associate Professor of History and affiliated faculty of Cherokee and Indigenous Studies at Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, in the homelands of the Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees. She also directed and founded the NSU Center for Indigenous Community Engagement.
The University of Oklahoma is on the homelands of the Hasinais (Caddo Nation) and Kirikirʔi:s (Wichita & Affiliated Tribes). Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Osage, and diverse peoples converged in these lands as well for generations. This land has also been part of the Muscogee and Seminole Nations. Thirty-nine Native Nations dwell in Oklahoma following colonial policies designed to remove, confine, and forcefully assimilate Indigenous peoples.
See the University of Oklahoma Land Acknowledgement Statement.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Intermountain Indian School Gathering, May 2-4, 2024, Brigham City, Utah.
Global Mormon Studies Conference, May 23-25, 2024, Mexico City, Mexico.
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Conference, June 6-8, 2024, Båddådjo/Buvda/Bodø, Sábme/Norway.
Mormon Social Science Association (MSSA) sponsored session at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) Conference, October 18-20, 2024, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Western History Association Conference, October 24-27, 2024, Kansas City, Missouri.
Oral History Association Conference, October 30-November 2, 2024, Cincinnati, Ohio.
“Boarding School Stories: Collaborative Acts of Indigenous Remembering,” Conference of the International Conference of Indigenous Archives, Libraries, and Museums, 3:45 pm-4:45 pm, November 14, 2024, Palm Springs, California.
American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 23-26, 2024, San Diego, California.
Read more about Farina King’s recent events.
Diné dóó Gáamalii book now available
My newest book, Diné dóó Gáamalii, is now available. I am honored that the Lyda Conley Series on Trailblazing Indigenous Futures published the book through the University Press of Kansas (UPK). I enjoyed working with the UPK with my first book. In college, one of the first impactful books that I read was David Wallace…
Call for Proposed Chapters to Edited Volume “Written to the Lamanites”
Call for Chapter Proposals to Edited Volume based on workshop theme of “Indigenous Perspectives on the Meanings of ‘Lamanite’” We write to announce a call for chapter proposals for an edited volume tentatively titled, “Written to the Lamanites: Indigenous Perspectives on Lamanite Discourses.’” Chapter proposals are due by September 5, 2023. The Book of Mormon styles itself…
2nd Workshop & Symposium of Indigenous Perspectives on the Meanings of “Lamanite”
Dr. Farina King and Dr. Michael Ing are co-organizing the second rendition that follows the inaugural workshop, Indigenous Perspectives on the Meanings of “Lamanite,” which was first held in August 2022 at the University of Utah. For this second gathering, it will be hosted by the Claremont Mormon Studies Program at Claremont Graduate University (CGU),…
Farina King, Ph.D. 
Thank you so much for speaking to our group last night, the Indian Territory Genealogical and Historical Society. You didn’t just speak to us. You made your Navajo people come alive and allowed us to
“meet” your family and understand a small part of what it meant to be Navajo in earlier times. Thank you again.
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Ahéhee’! Thank you, Diana, for coming and supporting this work and listening to my journey with family history. I appreciate your encouraging and kind words. Best wishes, Farina
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I’m pleased to let you know that the videos of our “Faith is Action, Stewardship and the Climate” symposium are on our YouTube channel. You may have already seen them shared on Facebook or other platforms. Thanks again for your excellent presentations.
We encourage you to share them on your social media and tag our organization @MormonStewards.
Hashtags you could include are:#ActOnClimate #MormonStewards #EverySaintASteward #FaithIsAction
Take care,
Marc Coles-Ritchie
board chair
Mormon Environmental Stewardship
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Thanks for sharing and inviting me to the symposium.
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Excellent meeting on Indigenous peoples of North America. thank you Dr King for your time and in-depth knowledge….alex thompson
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Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Alex!
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I’m Dine as well (Sage Brush Hill) and been Sr SW Engineer at Northrop Grumman for 20 years. Glad you shared info with my colleagues
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