Honor Keeler

Honor Keeler, JD (Cherokee Nation) is an Indigenous legal scholar and author teaching at Brown University's prestigious Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative (NAISI). Honor Keeler has worked globally with Indigenous nations to protect their sacred places and ensure the return of Indigenous ancestors and cultural items. Keeler worked for over a decade as a partner investigator on several grants based at The Australian National University (ANU) to support the work of the Return, Reconcile, Renew (RRR) Network and repatriation project, and now sits on the RRR Archive Governance Board. She also serves on the Advisory Council of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM). Keeler is the former Assistant Director of Utah Diné Bikéyah, an Indigenous nonprofit focused on the protection of the Bears Ears traditional and sacred lands. She recently ended a term on the NAGPRA Review Committee (2018-2022) and as Vice President of the Board of Trustees at the Cherokee National Historical Society. Keeler previously was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wesleyan University and has worked for national organizations, such as the American Indian Law Center, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA). Her scholarship and research interests focus on Indigenous human rights, the rights of Indigenous women, sacred places and environmental protection, repatriation, Indigenous entrepreneurship, and Cherokee studies. Keeler is completing her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary and Cross-Cultural Research (ICCR) at the College of Arts and Social Sciences at The Australian National University (ANU). She holds a J.D. and Indian Law Certificate from the University of New Mexico School of Law, completed her undergraduate degree in Anthropology at Brown University (‘05), and is a former president and Executive Committee founding member of Native Americans at Brown Alumni (NABA). She teaches courses focused on federal Indian law and Indigenous human rights.

 

https://www.brown.edu/academics/native-american-and-indigenous-studies/visiting-scholars