���챬��

Passionate. This is a word that reoccurs in reflections about Sabra’s approach to the world, and it is especially evident in the classroom. Students say she is passionate, genuine, honest, and she cares that they learn, deeply and relationally.

Sabra is a distinguished scholar of indigenous Australia who is committed to decolonizing the curriculum. A participant in the $2.5 million Mellon grant awarded to the Five Colleges, “Gathering at the Crossroads,” she also received a $300,00 Mellon New Directions Fellowship for her project “Digital Stewardship, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Archival Justice: The Living Archive of Aboriginal Art.” That Sabra is also this year’s recipient of a ���챬�� Teaching Award underlines how profoundly her research and teaching are interwoven.

Sabra teaches at every level of the Anthropology curriculum, offering courses that bring students into theoretical discussion and hands-on learning. In every class, assignment, and office hour session students report that she is careful, reflexive, and demonstrates a clear concern with the social relations of knowledge production. Students can see that every pedagogical choice is deliberate, from skills labs to reveal the hidden curriculum and the no technology rule in “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology,” to the focus on citation practices in “Indigenous Data Sovereignty” which illuminate how different formats create social relations between authors and readers as well as other scholars, teachers and elders in affected communities. Above all, Sabra asks questions about the ethics of knowledge sharing, and she urges students to think critically about their choices. As her students read, watch, and make media, they are challenged to reflect on their intentions and weigh relational awareness in every choice they make: from daily media diaries and film reviews in “Digital Cultures” to reflective video exercises in “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology” to learning from indigenous knowledge-holders in “Peoples and Cultures of Australia.” A highpoint in the Spring of 2022 was the collaborative making of a traditional possum skin cloak in “Decolonizing Museums” when Mount Holyoke hosted a group of artists-in-residence, including Thorner’s long-time collaborator Maree Clarke (Yorta Yorta / Wamba Wamba / Mutti Mutti / Boonwurrung) to share their work in cultural revitalization in creating the living archive of a possum skin cloak. This is a powerful form of intergenerational and intercultural knowledge transmission. Along with students, the artists engaged in the Cloak-making across multiple locations, including the Fimbel Maker and Innovation Lab, studio art spaces and the artists’ off-campus residence.

Perhaps Sabra’s most vital contribution is to facilitate a relationship between indigenous forms of knowledge making with the forms of knowledge making in the quickly changing technical landscapes that define the digital cultures of modern undergraduate education here at Mount Holyoke. Her classes strike this balance, finding joyous and creative modalities that move the conversation forward. Sabra is also generous to colleagues and collaborators, stepping in to chair the large and dynamic Nexus track in Museums, Archives and Public History, and now also the new track in Native American and Indigenous Studies.

Sabra Thorner’s teaching and research are profoundly interwoven and together exemplify the College’s highest values of excellence, inclusion and relational reciprocity, and for this reason, we award her the ���챬�� Award for Teaching.