My Bifurcated Life

A few years ago, I gave a talk as part of the Indigenous Speaker Series, a fantastic virtual seminar that features work by a diverse group of Indigenous scholars and community knowledge-holders. Later on, the organizers invited me to contribute to an edited volume of essays by speakers in the series. I gratefully accepted, and the book of essays, Voices of Indigenuity, was published in October 2023 by the University Press of Colorado (Michelle Montgomery, ed.). My chapter in the new book is a personal reflection on the bifurcation of my professional career, which began nearly a decade ago when my work began to focus on the erasure of Indigenous peoples from scientific discourse, public policies, and decision-making about water and the environment.

My chapter takes an informal survey of existing research at the nexus of water and environmental justice, which is currently dominated by work on public health (see figure below). I also highlight the emergence of research literature on Indigenous peoples’ cultural and spiritual connections to water, and I discuss the ways in which research itself can promote justice:

The very act of generating this scholarship can be a form of justice.  The latter is true because the work often injects Indigenous voices into discussions that otherwise commodify clean water or watery places such as wetlands, rivers, and coastlines.  Without this kind of work, Indigenous peoples’ sacred connections to place risk being erased in academic and policy discussions about water and environmental justice.

Bibliometric analysis of keywords in 542 journal articles about water and environmental justice published through 2020 generated using VOSviewer software. From Voices of Indigenuity, Chapter 12 (Emanuel 2023).

I connect these ideas to my personal story as a Lumbee hydrologist who is grappling with the idea and the practical matter of working on research topics that involve existential threats to the watery places that my people call home. It is not a tidy story, but it is part of an increasingly visible pattern of research in service of Indigenous peoples and priorities:

The emergence of scholarship that highlights Indigenous perspectives on water and justice pushes back against the erasure of Indigenous peoples by decision-makers, corporations, and others who insist on talking over us.  The body of scholarship is not a full remedy, but it demands that environmental regulators, consultants, and others pay attention.

The edited volume is brand new, and I have yet to read all of the essays. But from what I have read so far, and from what I have experienced in the Indigenous Speaker Series that inspired the book, there are many examples of this kind of work - research in service of justice - embedded throughout. The editor and lead organizer of the speaker series, Dr. Michelle Montgomery, belongs to the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe, one of the Native Nations that presently resides in eastern North Carolina. The Haliwa-Saponi are the third largest Tribe in North Carolina after the Lumbee (my Tribe) and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and I have been privileged to work with many Haliwa-Saponi students, professionals, and community members (including Dr. Montgomery) during my time as a researcher and educator. I was grateful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Montgomery and others on this edited volume, and I am glad it is now out in the world! Please contact me if you have trouble accessing this chapter. (The entire book will become Open Access within 3 years as part of the Path to Open program.)

Cover of Voices of Indigenuity, University Press of Colorado (2023).