Melissa K. Nelson is a professor of Indigenous Sustainability in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University and long-term president of the Cultural Conservancy. Nelson is an Indigenous ecologist, writer, editor, media-maker, and scholar-activist. Before joining the School of Sustainability, she served as a professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University (2002–2020), specializing in Indigenous Environmental and California Indian Studies. She is a transdisciplinary and community-based scholar dedicated to Indigenous rights and sustainability, biocultural heritage and environmental justice, intercultural solidarity, and the renewal and celebration of community health and cultural arts. Nelson actively advocates for Indigenous Peoples rights and sustainable lifeways in higher education, nonprofits, and philanthropy, and is particularly passionate about Indigenous food sovereignty at local, regional and global levels. Melissa Nelson is Anishinaabe, Cree, Métis, and Norwegian (a proud member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians).
Contributions to Humans and Nature:
- Regenerative
From Minding Nature’s Winter 2021, Volume 14, Number 1 issue. - Decolonizing Conquest Consciousness
A response to “How can we live respectfully with the land and with one another?”
Noteworthy Links:
- What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be?
A book co-edited by John Hausdoerffer, Brooke Parry Hecht, Melissa K. Nelson, and Katherine Kassouf Cummings - Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability
A book edited by Melissa K. Nelson and Daniel Shilling - Original Instructions
A book edited by Melissa K. Nelson - The Cultural Conservancy
Learn about Melissa K. Nelson’s work revitalizing Indigenous culture and land. - Heron Shadow
Find out about the Cultural Conservancy’s Indigenous Biocultural Heritage Oasis in California.
