Teaching

Advising
If you're a prospective graduate student who is interested in working with me in the Society &
Environment (S&E) division of the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM)
department, please reach out to me between September and November prior to the application
deadline (first week in December) and explain your research plans, goals for graduate education,
and relevant research and community experience, and how your goal align with my areas of
focus. For more information about applying to the graduate program, visit the ESPM Admissions website.

Courses Currently Being Taught

ESPM235 Indigenous Environmental Studies
This seminar explores the emerging and growing field of Indigenous Environmental Studies,
which centers on Indigenous historical heritages, living intellectual traditions, research
approaches, education practices and political advocacy to investigate topics of resilience, justice,
reconciliation, and how humans can live respectfully within dynamic ecosystems (as described in the work of Kyle Whyte, 2018). We will discuss scholarship by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars around defining and supporting sustainability; what environmental governance has looked like as tribal nations and settler governments have grappled for control over natural resources; issues around developing and utilizing “natural resources” on tribal land; how traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous science can be applied in environmental co-management; the struggle to achieve environmental justice and how Indigenous communities fit into the broader EJ movement; and the broader struggle to protect the waters so vital to the perpetuation of healthy communities. This readings for this course will be drawn primarily from interdisciplinary social science based fields, but this course is intended for any graduate students with interdisciplinary interests and experiences in environmental justice, resource management, and/or Indigenous communities.

ESPM150: Treaty Rights and Food Fights: The Native American Food Sovereignty
Movement
This course will address how Native American communities are addressing food related
issues—from fighting rising rates of diabetes and obesity stemming from a drastically changed
diet, to preservation of tribal food culture, to defending treaty-ensured hunting, fishing and
gathering rights. Around the Western world “eating local” has become a trend and a call for
action against a globalized food system that pollutes the environment, oppresses small farmers,
and has contributed to chronic illness. In many Native American communities the renewed push
to “eat local” is more often based on reviving traditional food cultures that have been affected by
alienation from the land, and a shift to modern culture. This class explores the disparate health
conditions faced by Native communities, and the efforts by many community groups to address
these health problems through increasing community access to traditional foods, whether by
gardening projects or a revival of hunting and fishing traditions. We will examine the ways in
which Native food movements have converged and diverged from general American local food
movements, and the struggles they often face in reviving treaty-guaranteed food ways.