Caroline Fidan Tyler DoenmezAssistant Professor of Civil Society & Community Studiesshe/her/hers

I am an assistant professor in the Civil Society & Community Studies department and the American Indian & Indigenous Studies program specializing in ethnographic studies of reproductive care. My research draws on my interdisciplinary training in cultural and medical anthropology, American Indian and Indigenous studies, oral history, human rights studies, and the anthropology of water.

My current book manuscript, “Carrying Water: Indigenous Women Reclaiming Birth along the Red River,” is based on my dissertation research, which earned the University of Minnesota’s Best Dissertation Award in 2024. This research was conducted in Winnipeg, Manitoba with Cree, Anishinaabe, and Red River Métis doulas. Throughout my book, I utilize the language of “birthing sovereignty” to signal the ways that Indigenous peoples’ experiences of pregnancy and birth are often-obscured sites of violence as well as terrains of cultural and political resurgence. This research was supported by fellowships and grants from entities including the American Association of University Women and the University of Minnesota’s Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship.

My recent research has included conducting a developmental evaluation for the Birth Justice Collaborative in Minneapolis, as well as leading in-depth qualitative interviews with mothers who have participated in the Rx Kids cash prescription program in Flint, Michigan. Rx Kids is the nation’s first-ever unconditional and universal program to distribute cash to all mothers and babies in participating communities. My extensive training in oral history and ethnographic methods informs my interest in elevating mothers’ birth stories as critical sources of knowledge about reproductive politics as they are enacted in women’s daily lives.

My roles as an instructor and researcher are animated by my mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students. Collaborating with students as they develop greater senses of agency in their own intellectual journeys is one of the most important and meaningful aspects of my work.

Selected Publications

Doenmez, C. F. T., Cidro, J., Sinclair, S., Hayward, A., Wodtke, L., & Nychuk, A. (2022). Heart Work: Indigenous Doulas Responding to Challenges of Western Systems and Revitalizing Indigenous Birthing Care in Canada. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 22(1), 1–14.

Doenmez, C. F. T. (2019). Resonant Rivers: Water, Indigenous Relationality and Other Futures. Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place & Community, 13(1), 89–95.

For a full list of publications, see Doenmez’s CV.