Chris Stark, MSW, MFA
Affiliation: Nanda Noojimo
Chris Stark, MSW, MFA is an award-winning writer, researcher, and trainer. She co-authored “Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Sex Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota.” As a graduate student, she conducted an exploratory research project about the sex trafficking of Native women in the Duluth, Minnesota harbor. Her article, “Strategies for Sex Trafficked Native Women,” includes the harbor research, historical research, and legal strategies about using civil legislation. She also co-authored “Lifelong Wellbeing for Survivors of Sex Trafficking: Collaborative Efforts from Survivors, Researchers, and Service Providers.”
Chris’s second novel, Carnival Lights, about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), is a current Minnesota Book Awards Finalist. Her first novel, Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation,” was a Lambda Literary Finalist. She is a co-editor of Not for Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography. She has trained and spoken internationally and nationally for thirty-four years; organized numerous survivor art shows; and consulted with Homeland Security and other national organizations. She has facilitated survivor writing and art groups, and she was a Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ coordinator at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center. She teaches writing at universities and colleges. Chris is the inaugural fellow at the Institute to Address Commercial Exploitation at Villanova Law School.
Research Interests:
Civil litigation for sex trafficking
Indigenous history related to sex trafficking and other forms of sexual violence
Maritime history, especially related to trafficking and slavery
History of slavery of Indigenous people
Current research on sex trafficking of Native women and youth
Jurisdictional issues regarding sexual violence in Indian Country
History of boarding schools for Native children
Sex trafficking in the Caribbean