Restoring Connections: Indigenous Environmental Governance and Eco-Cultural Revitalization along the Central California Coast

Alexii Sigona from UC Davis

In Person Location: ISB 221

Zoom Link

This presentation examines how California Tribal nations enact their place-based responsibilities as stewards of their ancestral lands and waters. Using ethnographic research with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band (AMTB) of central coastal California, I trace the processes of Tribal eco-cultural revitalization enacted through collaborative research and land stewardship at Quiroste Valley Cultural Preserve. I illuminate how a non-federally recognized and landless nation leverages research findings substantiating the ecological benefits of Tribal stewardship for co-management and land access opportunities. I argue that Indigenous nations strategically engage and transform environmental conservation spaces to maintain and revitalize their knowledge systems despite settler colonial laws and regulations that fail to acknowledge Tribal sovereignty or accommodate Indigenous epistemologies. Finally, I will discuss emerging international research collaborations that examine how Indigenous epistemologies are reflected in the environmental governance of protected areas.