The Learning Path of Patty Loew
University of Wisconsin professor allows intuition and cultural protocol to guide her research.
By Mark Anthony Rolo
MADISON, Wis.
Three years ago, while researching archival photographs and records for a documentary on American Indian war veterans, Dr. Patty Loew stumbled upon a long forgotten film about her Ojibwe grandfather’s World War I unit. Though it was a remarkable find, the truth is, for Loew, it was just another in a series of events that have guided both her professional and personal path.
The 1916 Fort Douglas training camp footage of the National Guard’s Third Wisconsin Infantry was buried in the basement stacks of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Stored in an unmarked canister, Loew says it looked as if it had never been run through a projector. Watching the film raised even more questions for her about her beloved grandfather.
“I realized that I have had this lingering question for the past 20 years,” says Loew. “My grandfather was not even a citizen. Native Americans were not legally allowed to vote until 1924. I’ve always tried to imagine what it was like for him to take an oath to defend the Constitution when he was not even protected under it.”
Starting her professional life as a successful broadcast journalist, Loew is now an associate professor in the department of life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She uses a curriculum of written and oral testimonies from tribal elders and leaders to demonstrate how science and myth are congruous to American Indians. She says, through both careers, her professional pursuits and personal growth have often been intertwined.
