 Joanne Barker received her PhD in the History of Consciousness Department from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2000 where she specialized in indigenous jurisprudence, women's/gender studies, and cultural studies.Barker is a professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University.In her work as an advocate for Native Americans, Barker has drawn connections between the oppression of Native American communities in the United States of America and Palestinians.