Tamamta (All of Us): Indigenizing and Decolonizing Fisheries Education, Research, and Governance in Alaska

SPEAKERS: Dr. Jessica Black and Dr. Courtney Carothers, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Motivated by deep inequities, Indigenous erasure, and systemic racism against Alaska Native people and Tribal sovereignty, the Tamamta program seeks to transform education, research, governance systems in Alaska and beyond. We envision a future where Indigenous Peoples and our/their knowledge and governance systems steward land, fish, and animal relations. We are supporting three cohorts of Alaska Native and Indigenous students to pursue their graduate degrees in western and Indigenous fisheries and marine sciences. We are working to decolonize and Indigenize our curriculum, programs, and institutions. We are hosting difficult dialogues on racial equity, providing short courses, and cultural exchanges for state and federal partner agencies to join us in this transformation. We are shifting research practices with Indigenous-led projects centering Indigenous protocols and methodologies, such as Indigenizing Salmon Science and Management. In all of this, we center deep relational work based on reciprocity, respect, and redistribution. We will share how our collaborative work began – including our research programs on wellbeing and Indigenous governance and fisheries privatization and dispossession – and the work of our first year of Tamamta with opportunities and challenges met along the way.