It’s long been the mythology of America that anyone – regardless of class, race or gender – can rise from rags to riches. if they have a bit of natural talent and an inclination for hard work. But is this really true? Has it ever been? What is the American Dream?
On the evening of September 28, 2022 at the Ellen Theater, Bozeman Public Library’s award winning community forum, Symbozium, convened a panel moderated by Dr. Jelani Mahiri, and featuring Dr. Shane Doyle, Ariana Flores and Dr. Matthew Staiger, to explore that question. To begin the discussion, Chrysti Smith, aka Chrysti the Wordsmith, introduced the history of the phrase, American Dream.
Moderator: Dr. Jelani Mahiri is a parent, university instructor, musician, photographer and designer. He was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where he first became enamored with the power and pleasures of public libraries, as well as documentary photography. He completed his B.S. in Physics and Spanish at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. He went on to study sociocultural anthropology and folklore at UC Berkeley where he completed his M.A. and Ph.D. Jelani currently teaches at Montana State University, plays music when he can, continues photographic pursuits, and faces the daily challenges and joys of parenting a young teenager.
Dr. Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke), is a Montana-based scholar, educator, writer, and community advocate whose work focuses on the deep history and cultural heritage of the Indigenous people of the Northern Great Plains. He holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Montana State University and completed a post-doctoral research appointment in genetics with the University of Copenhagen in 2016. He continues to participate in collaborative research projects throughout the Northern Plains, and often creates lesson plans and curriculum for public schools based on his team’s discoveries. As a performing artist and producer, Shane has over 30 years of experience singing Plains Indian style music and 6 years of experience as a lead artist for Bozeman-based Mountain Time Arts. Doyle is currently a full-time educational and cultural consultant who lives in Bozeman with his wife and 5 children.
Ariana Flores is an Equity Architect with the Equity Project, a leading equity, diversity and inclusion consulting firm. Originally from South Texas and a proud Chicana feminist, Ariana has dedicated her career to various endeavors seeking to further racial equity. She has worked as an attorney, advocate, and community organizer on issues including: wage theft; immigrants’ rights; sexual harassment; employment discrimination; health care access; intimate partner violence; and LGBTQIA+ rights. Ariana is an attorney by training and completed her legal education in 2012 at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, WA, where she was a William H. Gates Public Service Law Scholar. She her earned undergraduate degree in political science from Tufts University in Medford, MA in 2004.
Dr. Matthew Staiger is a Research Scientist at Opportunity Insights, which is a social science research lab based at Harvard University. His research uses “big data” to study topics related to economic mobility. One strand of his research recognizes that people are shaped by the neighborhoods in which they live, and he studies housing policies intended to improve neighborhood conditions. A second strand of his research studies how people find jobs and investigates the consequences for workers and firms. Matthew completed his PhD in economics at the University of Maryland in 2021, and while in graduate school, he participated in the Pathways Internship program at the U.S. Census Bureau and was a Dissertation Scholar at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.