TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Cherokee Nation

PANEL TITLE: Weaving a Sustainable Environment

BIOGRAPHY
HONOR KEELER, JD  Honor Keeler is a citizen of Cherokee Nation and legal scholar who focuses on Indigenous human rights, sacred lands protection, international repatriation, environmental justice, entrepreneurship, and women’s rights. Keeler is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Practice at Brown University in the Native American and Indigenous Studies initiative.

Keeler currently serves as a Board member of the Return, Reconcile, Renew governance board, an Indigenous research project and database partnership among Indigenous Australians, Maori, Native Americans, and scholars, dedicated to finding and repatriating Indigenous Ancestors and cultural items. She also serves on the Advisory Council of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM). Keeler’s co-edited book, The Routledge Companion to Indigenous Repatriation: Return, Reconcile, Renew was released in 2020. Her most recent publication, "Indigenous Bodies Are Not Your Property: Restoring Indigenous Consent Restores Justice" was published in the 2023 book Repatriation, Science, and Identity.  

From 2018-2021, Keeler was the Assistant Director/Director of Legal and Programs at Utah Diné Bikéyah, an Indigenous grassroots, nonprofit organization that focused upon cultural and environmental resources protection in the Four Corners area and the protection of the Bears Ears National Monument. From 2018-2022, Keeler served a 4-year term on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Committee, a U.S. federal advisory committee formed under NAGPRA. Prior to 2020, Keeler was an Investigator on several major grants focusing upon Indigenous international repatriation at the Australian National University, holding an honorary position at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies.

Throughout her career, Keeler has worked at several national organizations, including the American Indian Law Center, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the AAIA. She also taught at Wesleyan University as a Visiting Assistant Professor and Repatriation Coordinator where she focused her classes on sacred lands protection and repatriation, Native American youth, and Native American land rights.   Keeler’s former Board service includes: Vice President of the Board of Trustees at the Cherokee National Historical Society (encompassing the Cherokee Heritage Center, Cherokee National Archives, and Cherokee National Museum in Cherokee Nation) and the President of Brown University’s Native Americans at Brown Alumni Association. She has testified in front of Congress and the United Nations on sacred lands protection, human rights, international repatriation, looting and trafficking, and the protection of Bears Ears. Keeler is currently a Ph.D. candidate at The Australian National University. She received her J.D. and Indian Law Certificate from the University of New Mexico School of Law, and her A.B. from Brown University.

UPCOMING DAWNLAND FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS

Organized by the Abbe Museum, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is a unique multi-day event is an evolution of our popular Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) and Native American Festival that featured invitation-only Native arts markets and performances. The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas includes those elements but will also spotlight conversations by Wabanaki and other Indigenous leaders on some of the biggest questions of our time, including climate, democracy, and food systems.

The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is FREE and open to the public.

This event is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism, along with a partnership from the College of the Atlantic.