Throughout my career, I have been motivated by a simple and enduring desire to make a difference in the world. That motivation has shaped the research I have chosen to prioritize, the content in the classes I teach, and the institutions where I have served. When I reflect on what has mattered most, it is not titles or milestones. It is “impact.”

For Jerome Clark, stories are not just for bedtime. They are tools that can be used to imagine, and eventually help create, a future for the Navajo nation, his nation. 

Clark is a PhD candidate in English Literature at ASU. He studies indigenous literature, focusing on the story traditions of the Diné (aka Navajo) tribe to which he belongs.