Natasha Myhal is a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. At Ohio State, she is also a collaborative faculty member in the American Indian Studies program. Before joining the School of Environment and Natural Resources, she was the 2022-2023 Henry Roe Cloud Dissertation Fellow at Yale University, hosted by American Studies and the Yale Group for the Study of Native America. Dr. Myhal has received fellowships from the National Science Foundation, Newberry Consortium in American Indian Studies, The Cobell Scholarship Fund, and the Intertribal Timber Council.
Her research and teaching focus on three key areas: Anishinaabe practices of mino-bimaadiziwin (living well), contemporary Indigenous governance, and environmental restoration and cultural practices. She examines how colonialism—both historical and ongoing—has increased the challenges Indigenous communities face, such as climate change. As a Critical Indigenous Studies scholar, methodological and theoretical foundations of storytelling and place-based knowledges shape her work, which aims to support Indigenous and Native American Tribal Nations' agency and sovereignty.
Current Research
Her community engaged work with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Tribal Natural Resources Department and their Nmé (Lake Sturgeon) Stewardship Program. Nmé and their epistemologies animate her research, bringing into focus the important relations between Indigenous space time, political ecologies, and the agency of more-than-human beings.
Education
Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder- Critical Ethnic Studies with a concentration in Native American and Indigenous Studies – 2023
M.A., University of Kansas – Indigenous Studies – 2017
B.A., University of Minnesota, Morris – American Indian Studies & Environmental Studies – 2015
Research Interests
Critical Indigenous Studies; Indigenous geographies; Indigenous environmental knowledge; Collaborative and Community-based Research Methods; Indigenous governance; Indigenous natural resource management; environmental justice; Indigenous political ecologies.
Please find my current publications here: https://osu.academia.edu/NatashaMyhal
Professional Associations
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association
American Association for Geographers
