Pilar Gauthier, Research Postdoc

Pōsōh! 

My name is Pilar Gauthier; I grew up on the Menominee Indian Reservation, a vibrant and resilient community in Northeastern Wisconsin. I come from the Gauthier family, and I am proud to come from a line of strong Menominee and Hu-Chunk matriarchs. I recently joined the Loka Initiative within the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a 2-year postdoc to work with Dekila Chungyalpa and Christy Wilson-Mendenhall on research regarding emotional experiences (e.g., eco-anxiety) of climate and environmental crises. Holding a PhD from UW-Madison, I consider myself an Indigenous psychologist, and my work centers on indigenous ways of knowing and doing as legitimate sources of knowledge and scientific inquiry within academia and systems to improve socio-psychological practices among underrepresented communities in the context of global and Earth wellness. I am also currently the Vice-President of Medicine Fish Corp, a non-profit organization whose motto is “Heal-Build-Inspire,” which dedicates efforts to empowering tribal youth to culture and place through a model that emphasizes our relationship with buffalo, land, and water.