Ep 29: Getting dirty: A conversation with Dr. Melissa Nelson 

In this episode, Hōkū sits down with Dr. Melissa Nelson to discuss love, gender, and sustainable futures, all through the lens of ecology, or as she puts it, the study of complex interrelationships. We hear about Melissa’s work on rematriation as a returning to lands, homes, bodies, spirits, and Indigenous women’s leadership. Resurgence, although interrelated with rematriation, focuses on Indigenous power, survivance, affirming cultural instructions from within, and new futures, knowledges, and expressions of Indigeneity. Melissa’s work is intertribal and fosters a sense of Indigenous internationalism, focused on exchange of tools, stories, songs, seeds, and knowledge, honoring the Indigeneity of many different peoples. They also discuss Melissa’s very popular essay, “Getting Dirty: The Eco-Eroticism of Women in Indigenous Women’s Oral Literatures.” and share stories about the eco-erotic and messy grey zones where we transgress the human-nature divide. 

Dr. Melissa Nelson is an ecologist, writer, editor, media-maker, and Native scholar-activist. She is Anishinaabe, Cree, Métis, Norwegian, and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. Melissa is also a professor of Indigenous sustainability at Arizona State University. She’s a co-founder of the Cultural Conservancy and author of numerous articles and books. Her work is dedicated to Indigenous rights and revitalization, Native science and biocultural diversity, ecological ethics and sustainability, and the renewal and celebration of community health and cultural arts. 

This podcast is created by the Impact Chair in Transformative Governance for Planetary Health at the University of Victoria, with production support from Cited Media. We receive additional support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research You can find us at https://indigenousplanetaryhealth.ca/