This Native American Heritage Month, We Celebrate Dr. James Fenelon

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, our Native American and Indigenous Peoples Caucus (NAIPC) is sharing information about our caucus members who contribute to our Native communities and beyond with their work toward antiracism and social justice.

Our first, inaugural story features Dr. James “Jim” Fenelon. Fenelon is an active NAIPC member participating in the CFA Assembly last month, and at the Assembly in April 2026. Jim is a professor and director of CSU San Bernardino’s Center for Indigenous Peoples Studies, and recently Lang Visiting Professor for Social Change at Swarthmore College.

He published Redskins?: Sports Mascots, Indian Nations, and White Racism (2017) to combat racial icons, following earlier books Culturicide, Resistance and Survival of the Lakota (Sioux Nation) to support Native Nations tribal sovereignty, and Indigenous Peoples and Globalization (with Thomas Hall) showing resistance and revitalization, and his newest Indian, Black and Irish: Indigenous Nations, African Peoples and European Invasions – 1492-1790 (Routledge) covering 500 years of racial struggles leading to the United States.

Fenelon works on climate change, environmental issues, War, Peace, Conflict scholarship, and social sciences (ethnic/urban studies, Indian education, migration, genocide, etc.) published in numerous journal articles and book chapters. James is of Dakota/Lakota, Gaelish Irish, French, and Scandinavian descent, and advocates for social justice and respects all life on earth.

Fenelon actively supports CSU Native American events as well as the Intertribal Education Collaborative (ITEC) in Southern California. It is an honor and privilege to work with Fenelon in the CFA, the CSU, and the greater community.

By: Sandy Kewanhaptewa-Dixon, CFA NAIPC co-chair and CSU Pomona professor