UNCP to Host Author Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz for Book Talk on The Indian Card

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke will welcome author and policy scholar Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz to campus to discuss her debut nonfiction book, The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America.

The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Museum of the Southeast American Indian on September 29.

Schuettpelz, an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, brings a powerful perspective on questions of identity, belonging and Native sovereignty. Her book explores the complexities of “playing the Indian card” in American society and examines the personal, political and cultural forces that shape Native identity today. The Indian Card, published in 2024, received national attention and acclaim.

Schuettpelz is an associate professor of Practice at the University of Iowa’s School of Planning and Public Affairs, where she directs the Native Policy Lab and teaches public policy. She served for seven years as a policy advisor in the Obama Administration, focusing on homelessness and Native policy. She is also a Fulbright Scholar and the recipient of the 2023 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant.

In addition to her work in policy, Schuettpelz holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Department of American Indian Studies at 910.521.6266 or mary.jacobs@uncp.edu.