Tennille Marley

Tennille Larzelere Marley (Dzil Ligai Sian N'dee –White Mountain Apache) is an associate professor of American Indian Studies. Professor Marley received her doctorate in sociology with a focus on the sociology of health, from the University of New Mexico in 2013. She also has a master's of public health and bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of Arizona.

Dr. Marley aligns her work with the American Indian Studies program’s paradigm. This paradigm grounds the experiences of American Indian (AI) nations, people, communities, and organizations by centering the concepts of sovereignty and Indigenousness to protect and strengthen Indian sovereignty, self-determination, self-sufficiency, and human rights. Her work privileges oral history, traditional knowledge, and collaborative partnerships with AI nations, communities, and organizations to address issues using Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing. The paradigm also emphasizes the need to view research, teaching, and service as a “sacred” responsibility. The AIS paradigm guides her and is at the heart of her research, teaching, and service. 

Dr. Marley’s research interests are largely influenced by her experiences growing up on the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation and by the Social Determinants of Health, the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. Many of the structural forces that create the conditions on reservations and impact health are unique to these population groups. American Indians are members of their sovereign Indigenous nations and therefore are considered a political group rather than a racial group. This means that American Indian nations and their citizens are subject to laws and policies that are often unjust, and that apply only to them. For this reason, she focuses on the social and structural determinants of AI health, with a special focus on racial residential segregation. She has also written on Indigenous data Sovereignty, a worldwide movement, focusing on the role and responsibilities of researchers and universities with respect to AI nations.       

Marley teaches graduate and undergraduate classes, including Introduction to American Indian Studies, American India Sovereignty and the Courts, Federal Indian Policy, Social Change in American Indian Communities, American Indian Research Methods, and Historical Trauma, Healing, and Decolonization.