Explore Listening to the Land with Visiting Scholar Melissa K. Nelson
How can a rematriated science address the roots of the polycrisis? Can society move beyond an anthropocentric, male-dominated science to a relational one rooted in justice and care? As an Anishinaabe ecologist and transdisciplinary scholar-activist, Commonweal New School Visiting Scholar Melissa Nelson is working to find ways to return to and revitalize the Indigenous and feminist roots of science by highlighting ways of knowing that are based on epistemologies of care, belonging, kinship, and respectful intimacy with the natural world and each other. Find out more about Melissa’s work and worldview: an article introducing Melissa’s work, a conversation with Jaune Evans, and a short workshop. During the workshop, join the interactions happening on Melissa’s Miro board. | Art credit: Catalina Cortes
Course Material
Invitation to Listening to the Land with Visiting Scholar Melissa Nelson
In this introduction to Listening to the Land, September 2026 Visiting Scholar Melissa Nelson invites us to join her at the edges of experience and inquiry to explore what it means to rematriate science. An Anishinaabe ecologist and transdisciplinary scholar-activist, Melissa proposes that the fragmented thinking characteristic of dominant, patriarchal systems both creates and continues to perpetuate the polycrisis we now face. A solution lies in uplifting the historically marginalized scientific knowledges of women and Indigenous peoples, whose relational approach can bring healing and integration to the roots of an extractive system, transforming it into one that serves justice, life, and the Earth.
The Rematriation of Science: Restoring Balance through Indigenous Knowledges | Part 1
As an Anishinaabe ecologist, Commonweal New School's fall Visiting Scholar Melissa Nelson is working to find ways to return to and revitalize the Indigenous and feminist roots of science. Meet Melissa and find out more about her worldview at this event—first in conversation with Host Jaune Evans, and then in an experiential process around her new work.
The Rematriation of Science: Restoring Balance through Indigenous Knowledges | Part 2
As an Anishinaabe ecologist, Commonweal New School's fall Visiting Scholar Melissa Nelson is working to find ways to return to and revitalize the Indigenous and feminist roots of science. Meet Melissa and find out more about her worldview at this event—first in conversation with Host Jaune Evans, and then in an experiential process around her new work.
Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis)
Melissa is a Global Futures Professor of Indigenous Conservation and Sustainability at Arizona State University and Professor Emerita of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University. From 1993 to 2021, she served as the founding executive director and CEO of the Cultural Conservancy and continues to serve as president of their board. She is a contributor and co-editor of What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want To Be? (2021), Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability published (2018), and Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (2008). She is Anishinaabe/Métis/Norwegian and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.