Sonya Atalay
Provost Professor of Anthropology and Director of Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS) | University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA, UNITED STATES
Sonya Atalay explores ways that repatriation and reclaiming of heritage provides lessons for decolonizing and Indigenizing institutions
Expertise (5)
Indigenous Knowledge
Indigenous Studies
Native American Studies
Cultural Anthropology
Critical Heritage Studies
Biography
Sonya Atalay (Anishinaabe-Ojibwe) is an Indigenous archaeologist, utilizing community-based participatory methods to conduct research in full partnership with Indigenous communities. In her most recent work, she is exploring ways that repatriation and reclaiming of tangible and intangible heritage are teachers that provide essential lessons for decolonizing and Indigenizing institutions.
She is director of the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS). Atalay says, "CBIKS is about recognizing that Indigenous knowledge systems carry tremendous information and value, and it’s shortsighted to think that current research practices founded on Western knowledge systems are the only or ‘right’ approach."
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Education (3)
University of California, Berkeley: Ph.D., Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley: M.A., Anthropology
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: B.A., Anthropology and Classical Archaeology
Links (3)
Select Recent Media Coverage (3)
Why are thousands of Native American human remains still held in Mass. collections?
MassLive online
2023-10-22
Sonya Atalay, provost professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is Anishinaabe-Ojibwe, served two terms on the NAGPRA Federal Advisory Review Committee and has been involved in repatriations. In attending reburials and talking to tribes through the committee, she often heard that the work helped heal people from historical trauma. She and other colleagues have detailed repatriation stories in a comic book series, NAGPRA Comics. It’s a way to make the complex issue more accessible and tell powerful stories, Atalay said.
Indigenous science to be focus at UMass Amherst center on climate change research
WBUR online
2023-09-08
Center director and anthropologist Sonya Atalay, a member of the Anishinaabe-Ojibwe tribe, said Indigenous tribes are more likely to approach scientific questions through storytelling and respect the priorities and expertise of local communities.
New UMass center will “braid” Indigenous know-how, Western science to tackle pressing problems
Daily Hampshire Gazette online
2023-09-07
“Indigenous people globally care for some of the most biodiverse regions in the world,” Atalay said. “We’re trying to understand traditional practices that have been marginalized for a very long time.”
Select Publications (2)
The Community-Based PhD: Complexities and Triumphs of Conducting CBPR (Book)
University of Arizona PressSonya Atalay (Editor), Alexandra C McCleary (Editor)
2022-03-15
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) presents unique ethical and practical challenges, particularly for graduate students. This volume explores the nuanced experience of conducting CBPR as a PhD student.
Community-Based Archaeology: Research with, by, and for Indigenous and Local Communities (Book)
University of California PressSonya Atalay
2012-10-01
As an archaeologist and a Native American, Sonya Atalay has investigated the rewards and complex challenges of conducting research in partnership with indigenous and local communities. In Community-Based Archaeology, she outlines the principles of community-based participatory research and demonstrates how CBPR can be effectively applied to archaeology.
