Ákót’éégo Diné Asdzáán Nishłį́.
Hashtł’ishnii nishłį́.
Dziłtł’ahnii báshíshchíín.
Táchii’nii éí da shicheii.
Tótsohnii éí da shinálí.
Larissa is of the Mud People and born for the Mountain Cove People. Her maternal grandfather is of the Red Running Into the Water People and her paternal grandfather is of the Big Water People.
She was born and raised in a small, mountain community in the northeastern part of the Navajo Nation called Ni’iijííh Hasání (Sawmill, Arizona). Her maternal grandparents are from Ni’iijííh Hasání and her paternal grandparents are from Séí Bídaagai (Seba Dalkai, Arizona).
Larissa is empowered by Diné kinship, culture, worldviews, and philosophies. Her research is aligned with the Diné paradigm, Są’áh Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón (SNBH). As a research framework, SNBH prioritizes traditional Diné knowledge, cultural teachings, and practices. SNBH, as a methodology, integrates hózhǫ́ (beauty and balance) and k’é (a system of affective action, solidarity, and kinship between all life).
In embodying k’é and hózhǫ́, Larissa is dedicated to conducting research that broadens and challenges her respective fields and shows how her communities are developing new languages and forms of expression that ultimately heal and generate new ways of life and being.
Larissa is currently a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Ethnic Studies, with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory, at the University of California, Berkeley, which occupies the traditional lands and territories of the Muwekma Ohlone people.
She earned her Master of Arts in Public Humanities from Brown University, which occupies the traditional lands and territories of the Narragansett peoples.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Art History with a minor in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame, which occupies the traditional lands and territories of the Bodéwadmiakiwen (Potawatomi), Miami, and Peoria peoples.