Sonya Atalay

I’m trained as an anthropological archaeologist and have carried out fieldwork at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey and conducted numerous research projects in partnership with rural Turkish and Native American communities to better understand community-based protection and management of cultural sites. Beginning with my first book, Community-Based Archaeology: Research with, by, and for Indigenous and Local Communities (2012, California), the overarching focus of my work in Anthropology and Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) is to understand the ethics and practice of community-based research in partnership with Indigenous Peoples. This is central to my work because being in right relations with communities as we conduct research is essential and the central foundation of ethical research practice.

There’s been an exciting growth of research partnerships with Indigenous communities, yet the methods, theories, ethics, and on-the-ground practices still lag behind the collaborative ideals. This is particularly clear in archaeology and in many related STEM fields, including earth, environmental, and geosciences which increasingly recognize the value of Indigenous knowledge and seek to utilize traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to understand rapid climatic changes and mitigation and adaptation strategies. My research seeks to understand how to effectively and ethically bring Indigenous ways of knowing (epistemologies), being (ontologies), and doing (axiologies) together with mainstream research practices while ensuring those knowledges aren’t extracted, exploited, commodified, or otherwise unintentionally harmed. My recent publications address key challenges in what I refer to as “braiding” Indigenous and mainstream approaches to science and research methodologies. I explore braiding practices in my current book project, “Braiding Knowledges: How Indigenous Knowledge is Challenging and Changing Institutions”. I examine how braiding Indigenous and mainstream western knowledge frameworks and scientific practices is distinctly and necessarily different from blending or integrating. We learn from repatriation that when braided, Indigenous and Western Science practice and content result in improved repatriation policies and better protection for and understandings of heritage places; provides fresh perspectives on data sovereignty and protection of Indigenous knowledge held in archival documents, songs, photographs and other tangible and intangible heritage; and strengthens scientific research practices. I argue and demonstrate throughout my work that a braiding approach is effective because it allows for plural coexistence of multiple knowledges where strands of each are brought together to solve challenges toward a common goal.

Sonya Atalay is a public anthropologist and archaeologist who studies Indigenous science protocols and practices and Indigenous research methodologies carried out with and for Indigenous communities. Dr. Atalay is the Director of the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS), a newly established National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. She has experience in and written about the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and served two terms on the National NAGPRA Review Committee, first appointed by the Bush administration and then for a second term by the Obama administration. Dr. Atalay is involved in producing a series of research-based comics in partnership with Native nations about repatriation of Native American ancestral remains, return of sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony under NAGPRA law. She is the author of several books related to community-based research and Indigenous knowledges and science, including Community-Based Archaeology: Research with, by and for Indigenous and Local Communities and “The Community-Based PhD: Complexities and Triumphs of Conducting CBPR” providing guidance for graduate students in conducting ethical research with Indigenous communities. Dr. Atalay is currently completing a book called, “Braiding Knowledges: How Indigenous Knowledge is Challenging and Changing Institutions”. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Mellon New Directions program,  and she’s worked on major international research collaborations such as the Intellectual Property in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) project funded by Social Science and Humanities Research Council. At MIT, she teaches classes on Indigenous research practices and community-based archaeology.

2024        Repatriation as Pedagogy. Co-authored with Jane Anderson. Current Anthropology 63(5).

2022        The Community-Based PhD (co-edited with Alexandra McCleary). University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.

2020        Archaeologies of the Heart. (co-edited with Kisha Supernant, Jane Baxter, and Natasha Lyons). Springer Press, New York.

2020        Indigenous Knowledge in Dangerous Times: Research Partnerships, Knowledge Mobilization, and Public Engagement. Public Archaeology 18.

2022        Introduction. Co-authored with Alexandra McCleary. In The Community-Based PhD, edited by Sonya Atalay and Alexandra McCleary. p. 5-12. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

2022        Complexities, Triumphs, Missteps, and Joys of Conducting Community-based PhD Research: What we Learn from Graduate Student Experiences. In The Community-Based PhD, edited by Sonya Atalay and Alexandra McCleary. Ch. 30, p. 453--470. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

2020        Archaeology led by Strawberries. In Archaeologies of the Heart, edited by Kisha Supernant, Jane Baxter, Natasha Lyons, and Sonya Atalay, Chapter 16, p.253-269. Springer Press, New York, NY.       

2019        Can Archaeology Help Decolonize the Way Institutions Think? How Community-Based Research is Transforming the Archaeology Training Toolbox and How that Toolbox Can Help Transform Institutions. Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress 15(3):514-535.

2019        Ethno/Graphic Storytelling: Communicating Research and Exploring Pedagogical Approaches through Graphic Narratives, Drawings, and Zines. American Anthropologist 121(3): 769-772 by Sonya Atalay, Letizia Bonanno, Sally Campbell Galman, Sarah Jacqz, Ryan Rybka, Jen Shannon, Cary Speck, John Swogger, Erica Wolencheck.

2019        Completing the Journey: A Graphic Narrative about NAGPRA and Repatriation. Multimodal Anthropologies Aug 19, 2019. http://www.americananthropologist.org/2019/08/19/ethno-graphic-storytelling/

2019        Braiding Strands of Wellness: How Repatriation Contributes to Healing through Embodied Practice and Storywork. Public Historian 41(1): 78-89.

2012        Community-Based Archaeology: Research With, By and For Indigenous and Local Communities. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

• Indigenous Research: Theories and Methods, Anthropology 653, Fall 2016, Spring 2023
• Contemporary Issues in Native America: Focus on the Northeast, Anthropology 370/670 (combined undergrad and grad), Spring 2013, Spring 2017, Spring 2020    Native American Foodways & Plant Medicines, Anthropology 297FW, Fall 2014
• Public Anthropology, Anthropology 297, Spring 2014 Interpretive Trails, Anthropology 597, Fall 2013
• Indigenous Archaeologies, Anthropology 652, Spring 2013, Fall 2019.
• Comic, Cartoons, and Communicating Anthropological Research Anthropology 497/697 (undergrad - Fall 2019), (grad) Fall 2018
• Intro to Archaeology, Anthropology 102, Spring 2016, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021 (300+ student Global Diversity and Social and Behavioral Science Gen Ed)
• Intro to Archaeology, Anthropology 102 Honors, Spring 2016, Fall 2016 (Global Diversity and Social and Behavioral Science Gen Ed)
• Contemporary Issues in Native America: Focus on the Northeast, Anthropology H370 (undergraduate service-learning Honors Colloquium), Spring 2013
• Bizarre Foods, Anthropology BH256 (undergraduate), Fall 2012
• Archaeology of Food, Anthropology 627 (undergraduate and graduate seminar), Fall 2012

BA, University of Michigan, Anthropology and Classical Archaeology (double major)

MA, UC Berkeley, Department of Anthropology

PhD, UC Berkeley, Department of Anthropology

2023        Chancellor’s Medal Recipient, University of Massachusetts Amherst

2022        American Anthropological Association, Patty Jo Watson Distinguished Lecture Award

2021        Named first UMass Amherst ‘Provost Professor’

2021        Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, UMass Amherst Graduate School

2020        Chancellor’s Leadership Fellowship (partnered with Deputy Chancellor to develop UMass Office of Community-Based Research)

2011        Indiana State Senate Commendation acknowledging community-based research with Sullivan County American Indian Council to develop Interpretive Heritage Trail

2010        Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award

Launch of the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science: 
https://www.umass.edu/news/article/umass-amherst-partnering-indigenous-communities-launch-30m-nsf-center-braiding

Indigenous Science to be Focus at Research Center on Climate Change:
 https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/09/08/indigenous-science-climate-change-research-umass

NSF announces $120 million in funding to create 4 new Science and Technology Centers:
https://new.nsf.gov/news/120-million-funding-create-4-new-science-tech-centers

Can Indigenous knowledge and Western science work together? New center bets yes NSF commits $30 million for “two-eyed seeing” to combat climate change, food insecurity, and the loss of traditional culture https://www.science.org/content/article/can-indigenous-knowledge-and-western-science-work-together-new-center-bets-yes

Nature: NSF invests millions to unite Indigenous knowledge with Western science https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02839-4