Kim TallBear, author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science (2013), is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta. She studies the racial politics of “gene talk” in science and popular culture. A former environmental planner, she has become interested in the similarities between Western constructions of “nature” and “sexuality” as they are defined and sanctioned historically by those in power. TallBear is interested in how sex and nature can be understood differently in indigenous worldviews. She draws on indigenous, feminist, and queer theory in her teaching and research that focuses on undermining the nature/culture split in Western society and its role in colonialism, racism, sexism, homophobia, and environmental degradation. TallBear has published research, policy, review, and opinion articles on a variety of issues related to science, technology, environment, and culture. She is a tribal citizen of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate in South Dakota, U.S.A., and is also descended from the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.
