Mikal C. Brotnov

PROFILE: Mikal Brotnov is committed to social justice. It is a calling that has taken him from his home on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in his native Idaho, across the Atlantic to Nazi death camps in Europe, and back to Idaho to study genocide against Native Americans. Some might say Mikal got a late start on his formal education, but the desire to learn and make a difference has always been present for the thirty-something summa cum laude graduate of Clark University.  Mikal will return to Clark for graduate school in fall 2010.   A history major and first-generation college student, Mikal’s academic work focuses on colonial and settler genocides. He is also compiling extensive data on the US Government’s active participation in the genocide of American Indians in the 1800s. 

INSPIRATION: Because educators have always inspired Mikal, it is not surprising that becoming a professor is his career goal. Mikal said Nada Oakley and Tracy Lai at Seattle Community College taught him how to believe in himself. Clark University Professors Debórah Dwork and Taner Akçam transformed that belief into a desire to give voice to those on the periphery of history. Mikal said Drs. Dwork and Akçam’s command of their respective subjects, and commitment to human rights inspires him. “Working with such talented scholars has a powerful sway over how you approach academic pursuits.”

ASPIRATION: Mikal hopes to teach colonial genocide and gender issues relative to Native Americans and the American West. He seeks to pass to future generations his knowledge of the discrimination he witnessed while growing up on a reservation. “It would take me 30 years to realize that it was this history and these stories that needed to be told,” Mikal said. “As Americans, we have a duty to face our darkest moments in order to move forward.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: In 2009, Mikal was awarded a Steinbrecher Fellowship, allowing him to work with the National Archives and Record Administration in Seattle, and return to the Nez Perce Indian Reservation to create a photographic essay. He captured how Nez Perce identity and culture still endures. The images are on display at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. Also in 2009, Mikal worked as a digital archivist on the “Letters Project”--3000 original letters written by children separated from their parents during the Holocaust.

ACCOLADES: In addition to the Steinbrecher Fellowship, Mikal received the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Award which allowed him to intern at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. He is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Phi Theta. Earlier in his academic career, Mikal was named a Pride Foundation Scholar. He received multiple scholarships from Clark University and his thesis received high honors.

INTERESTING FACT: Mikal is “always up” for a game of Clue, the classic detective board game.