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Antonie Dvořáková, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago, comes from the Czech Republic. As a Fulbright scholar, she earned her M.A. degree in Indigenous Nations Studies in the Center for Indigenous Nations Studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She also received an M.A. equivalent degree in Clinical Psychology from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. Her research interests lie in the area of cultural psychology and psychological anthropology including issues of self-regard among Indigenous Peoples of the U.S., professional experiences and identities of Indigenous scholars teaching at mainstream universities across the U.S., conceptualizations of honor and success in different cultures, and various issues of culturally responsive psychological assessment, research, and theorizing. For further professional details, please view Antonie Dvořáková's Bio Sketch.
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With some of her BA honors students
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With NASA members and Ph.D. Snipp
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At the university, Antonie Dvořáková works as an Instructor/Preceptor teaching Methodology courses and advising honors students writing their B.A. theses in the Department of Comparative Human Development. Additionally, Antonie Dvořáková serves as the Treasurer and Webmaster of the Native American Student Association at the University of Chicago. |
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Her academic work combines the fields of cultural psychology, psychological anthropology, ethnographic sociology, and ethnic minority education. Antonie Dvorakova's interdisciplinary dissertation research involves ethnic minority integration into the mainstream United States academia, and compares Native American scholars in social sciences and humanities with those who teach hard sciences. This research questions the assumption in existing literature that minority persons experience identity conflicts due to the pressures of living in the “two worlds” of their mainstream professions and their ethnic (home) communities. Native scholars specializing in Native American issues tend to rather understand their academic skills and roles to be an added repertoire enhancing their personal and communal competencies without threatening their tribal identities. By including scientists whose work does not have direct implications for their communities, the present research explores the applicability of my preliminary results to scholars who cannot easily perceive their academic work as a kind of social action on behalf of their people. Antonie interviewed 42 Native American professors at mainstream universities across the United States in order to explore also how the academics experience the relationships between their ethnic and professional backgrounds, roles, and identities. |
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