An adjunct professor in the UWindsor Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology has won recognition for her research into the culture of the Diné people — commonly referred to as Navajo.

Kathy M’Closkey received the “Excellence in Diné Studies” award at the Diné Studies Conference, October 25 to 27 in Tsaile, Arizona, in the Navajo Nation territory.

Her research focuses on globalization and gendered injustice, social justice, intellectual and cultural property rights, appropriation, and the political economy of “collectibles” on historic and contemporary production by Diné artisans.

Dr. M’Closkey is the author of the forthcoming book Why the Navajo Blanket Became a Rug: Excavating the Lost Heritage of Globalization from the University of New Mexico Press. She served as research director for the award-winning 2009 PBS documentary Weaving Worlds, and provided input into the brochure “How to Buy Authentic Navajo/Diné Weavings” published by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Indian Arts and Crafts Board.

In conferring the award, conference co-organizer Lloyd Lee called her work on Diné weaving “insightful and ground-breaking.”