Melissa Nelson

Dr. Nelson publishes chapters and essays in academic and popular books and journals. Her first edited anthology Original Instructions – Indigenous Teachings For A Sustainable Future (2008), focuses on the persistence of Indigenous Knowledges by contemporary Native communities. Her second edited anthology, Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability was co-edited with ASU Professor Emeritus Dan Shilling and published in 2018 by Cambridge University Press. Her third collection, What Kind of Ancestor Do you Want to Be? Is co-edited with John Hausdoerffer, Katherine Cummings, and Brooke Hecht for the University of Chicago Press (2021).  She has published chapters in several books including Indigenous Traditions and Ecology, The Handbook on Religion and Ecology, The Indigenous World of North America, and Critically Sovereign: Indigenous Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. She publishes regularly in diverse journals such as the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Wicaso Sa Review, Earth Island Journal, and Cultural Survival Quarterly.

• Journals

2025. Gazing Wolf, J., Simmons, E., Blanchard, P., Jennings, L. L., Ignace, D. D., David‐Chavez, D. M., Smiles, D., Montgomery, M., Plenty Sweetgrass‐She Kills, R., Nelson, M. K., Doan‐Crider, D., Black Elk, L., Black Elk, L., Bridge, G., Chischilly, A. M., Deer, K., DeerinWater, K., Ecoffey, T., Vergun, J., … Rattling Leaf, J. (2025). A path to reconciliation between Indigenous and settler–colonial epistemologies. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 23(7), e2847. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2847

Nelson, M. K., & Reed, G. (2025). Indigenous critiques and recommendations for reclaiming nature-based solutions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(29), e2315917121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2315917121

2024. Centering Indigenous Knowledges in ecology and beyond. Co-authored with Gazing Wolf, Joseph, Danielle D. Ignace, Dominique M. David‐Chavez, Lydia L. Jennings, Deondre Smiles, Paulette Blanchard, Ellen Simmons et al. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.2776. 

2024. Nelson, Melissa K. "The honorable harvest of Indigenous data." Environment and Planning F 2, no. 1-2 (2023): 316-321. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/26349825231168865

2024. Gazing Wolf, J., Ignace, D. D., David‐Chavez, D. M., Jennings, L. L., Smiles, D., Blanchard, P., Simmons, E., Doan‐Crider, D., Kills, R. P. S., Montgomery, M., Nelson, M. K., Black Elk, L., Black Elk, L., Bridge, G., Chischilly, A. M., Deer, K., DeerinWater, K., Ecoffey, T., Vergun, J., … Rattling Leaf, J. (2024). Centering Indigenous Knowledges in ecology and beyond. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 22(7), e2776. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2776

2023. Johnson, J. T., Brewer, J. P., Nelson, M. K., Palmer, M. H., & Louis, R. P. (2023). Indigenous research sovereignties: Sparking the deeper conversations we need. Environment and Planning F, 2(1-2), 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/26349825231163149

2023. Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research. Co-authored with Benjamin Orlove, Neil Dawson, Pasang Sherpa, Ibidun Adelekan, Wilfredo Alangui, Rosario Carmona, Deborah Coen, Victoria Reyes-Garcia, Jennifer Rubis, Gideon Sanago, Andrew Wilson. Ambio: Journal of Environment and Society.  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-023-01857-w 

2023. A Place to Belong: Creating an Urban, Indian, Women-Led Land Trust in the San Francisco Bay Area. Co-authored with Beth Rose Middleton, Corrina Gould, Johnella LaRose, Joanne Barker, Darcie Houck, and Michelle Grace Steinberg. Ecology and Society, editor Sybil Diver. https://ecologyandsociety.org/vol28/iss1/art8/

2023. Johnson, J. T., Brewer, J. P., Nelson, M. K., Palmer, M. H., & Louis, R. P. (2023). Indigenous research sovereignties: Sparking the deeper conversations we need. Environment and Planning F, 2(1–2), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/26349825231163149 

2019. Wrestling With Fire: Indigenous Women’s Resistance and Resurgence. The American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 43:3. Editor, Joanne Barker.

2018. The Native Seed Pod: An Antidote to the Monoculture. Langscapes Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 2, Winter, 2018.

2011. The Future of Native Studies: A Modest Manifesto. The American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 35:1 (2011).

2008. More Than One Mask: The Context of NAGPRA for Museums and Tribes. Co-authored with Edward M. Luby. The American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 32:4 (2008) 85 – 105.

2006. Ravens, Storms, and the Ecological Indian at the National Museum of the American Indian. Wicaso Sa Review, 21, no. 2. 

2002. Introduction: Indigenous Language Revitalization. Nelson, Melissa, executive editor, ReVision Journal, Washington, D.C., Fall, 2002, Volume 25, Number 2, 3 - 4.

2002. Moyla Tuupanga: The Moon Is in the Sky: An interview with L. Frank Manriquez. Nelson, Melissa. ReVision Journal, Washington, D.C., Fall, 2002, Volume 25, No. 2, 39 – 48.

2002. Storyscapes: Living Songs in Native Lands. Co-authored with Philip Klasky. ReVision Journal, Washington, D.C., Fall, 2002, Volume 25, Number 2, 11 – 18

1998. A Psychological Impact Report for the Environmental Movement. ReVision, Spring. Vol.    20(4): 37-43.

1995. San Francisco Bay Area Coalition Forms Bonds Between Native Americans and Non-Native Restorationists. Co-authored with Emily Schwalen. Restoration and Management Notes 12(2): 243-244.

1995. Ecopsychology in Theory and Practice. In Fideler, D. (ed.). Alexandria  - Journal of the Western Cosmological Traditions. Grand Rapids: MI: Phranes Press.

1993. Our Modern Challenge: Exploring Alternatives Through Dialogue and Ecological Responsibility. The Trumpeter - Journal of Ecosophy 10 (2): 57-59.

1991. An Exploration of Intuition: Its Relationship to the Deep Ecology Movement & Ecosophy. The Trumpeter - Journal of Ecosophy 9 (2): 83-84.

• Book Chapters in Edited Volumes

2021. Nourishing. In What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want To Be?  Edited by John Hausdoerffer, Brooke Hecht, Kate Cummings, and Melissa Nelson. Chicago University Press.

2017. Getting Dirty: The Ecoeroticism of Women in Native Oral Literatures. Critically Sovereign: Indigenous Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. Edited by Joanne Barker. Duke University Press.

2017. Education for the Eight Fire: Indigeneity and Native Ways of Learning. State of the World 2017: EarthEd – Rethinking Education on a Changing Planet. Washington, DC: Island Press, Worldwatch Institute.

2016. Indigenous Ecological Traditions in North America. Handbook of Religion and Ecology. Edited by John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker. New York, NY: Routledge Press.

2016. Linking Ancestral Seeds and Waters to the Indigenous Places We Inhabit. Co-authored with Nicola Wagenberg. Edges of Transformation: Multicultural Women’s Voices on the Intersection of Ecological and Social Healing, edited by Jeanine Canty. New York, NY: Routledge Press.

2014. Indigenous Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Persistence in Place. In The Indigenous World of North America. Edited by Robert Warrior. New York, NY: Routledge Press.

2013. The Hydromythology of the Anishinaabeg: Will Mishipizhu Survive Climate Change or is he creating it? In Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories, edited by Jill Doerfler, Niigonwedom James Sinclair and Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark. East Landing: Michigan State University Press.

2013. Protecting the Sanctity of Native Foods. State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Possible? Edited by Erik Assadourian and Thomas Prugh. Washington: Island Press.  

2011. [Reprint]. Becoming Metis. The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World. Edited by Alison Deming and Lauret Savoy. Milkweed Editions.

2009. Indigenous Religions – North America. In The Encyclopedia of Sustainability, VI: The Spirit of Sustainability. Edited by Willis Jenkins. Berkshire Publishing, Great Barrier, MA.

2008. Rivers of Memory, Lakes of Survival: Native American Water Traditions and the Anishinaabeg Nation. In Deep Blue: Critical Reflections on Nature Religion and Water. Edited by Sylvie Shaw & Andrew Francis. London, England: Equinox Publishing. 

2006. Oral Tradition, Identity, and Inter-Generational Healing Through the Southern Paiute Salt Songs. In Cultural Representation and Contestation in Native America. Edited by Andrew Jolivette. Berkeley, CA: AltaMira Press.

2004. Stopping the War on Mother Earth. In Ecological Medicine: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves. Edited by Kenny Ausubel. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.