Aimee Roberson is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and also of Chickasaw, Scottish, Irish, and English descent. A life-long student of Mother Earth’s wisdom, she holds a bachelor’s degree in geology and a master’s in conservation biology. She is committed to reciprocity and community, and works with people to ensure that the social-ecological systems upon which we all depend continue to flourish. Throughout her career, Aimee has provided leadership to partnerships focused on environmental stewardship, co-creating a vision, integrating cultural values and ecological knowledge with science for meaningful decision-making, and implementing shared strategies in caring for people, wildlife, water, and ecosystems. Aimee comes to Cultural Survival from her role as the Director of the American Bird Conservancy’s Southwest Region. Previously, she served as Coordinator for the Rio Grande Joint Venture, and prior to that she worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Aimee is a co founder of the Indigenous Kinship Circle and Regalia Making Relatives. She also serves on the board of the Big Bend Conservation Alliance, and previously served on the boards of the Rio Grande and Sonoran Joint Ventures. Shaldon Ferris (Khoisan), Cultural Survival Indigenous Rights Radio Coordinator, recently spoke with Roberson.
Shaldon Ferris interviewing Aimee Roberson.
Cultural Survival: You have a background in geology and conservation biology. How did you get into this line of work, advocating for Indigenous Peoples in the context of conservation and stewardship?
Aimee Roberson: Since I was a child, I’ve always been enamored with our natural world. I love to be in nature, to listen to birds, to learn about plants and all our relatives in the natural world. When I was thinking about going to college, I thought about journalism and environmental law. Ultimately, I really wanted to understand more about Mother Earth and how she works. Geology [has] been an incredible foundation for me to understand the geophysical processes of how Earth works and how that’s the foundation really for all life. I’ve come to understand how everything is interconnected and how understanding a much broader perspective of our world is really necessary to be good stewards and to conserve biodiversity.
When I went to graduate school, I wanted to get back to the idea of caretaking for our environment, [so] I chose to study conservation biology. I came to realize that one of the things that’s very important in this regard is the intersection of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem stewardship with Indigenous Peoples and our cosmovisions, lifeways, and cultures. These things inform our knowledge systems— our understanding of how we are not separate from nature, that we are a part of nature, and that we have important responsibilities to contribute to the ecosystems that we live in. It became very apparent that mainstream conservation circles weren’t talking about this. They weren’t talking about the fact that while Indigenous people make up just over 6 percent of the world’s population, they steward 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity. In fact, conservation efforts at times have done just the opposite; instead of honoring the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, they have removed us from our lands and made it impossible for us to be the caretakers. We need to shift the paradigm, and I became very interested in making this shift happen.
Cultural Survival · Aimee Roberson Is Cultural Survival's New Executive Director!
Tell us about your work with Indigenous Peoples on the ground, stewarding ecosystems, protecting biodiversity, and planning for climate change adaptation.
AR: As we gather in community with Indigenous Peoples across North America, we’ve been learning about their struggles, about what they’re doing to ensure that their lifeways and cultures continue, about the challenges that they’re facing, especially about climate change. We’ve been working to help communities access resources, whether it’s funding, or in some cases technical assistance, to continue their good work, to continue taking up that responsibility to care for the land, to care for their cultures as part of the ecosystem.
What are the major challenges you see Indigenous Peoples facing today?
AR: Globally, we’re facing multiple crises. We’re seeing this extreme decline in biodiversity. We’re seeing ecocide, where ecosystems are being degraded to the point of no longer functioning and not being able to support life in the way they once did. And, of course, climate change has many challenges, as well as social inequity and injustice. All of these things are interconnected, and all of them are disproportionately impacting Indigenous Peoples, who are trying to care for their homelands and continue the lifeways of their ancestors. We see that things like colonization, unfettered capitalism, and climate change are all coming together to make it very difficult for Indigenous Peoples. On top of the challenges that Indigenous Peoples are already facing in trying to stay connected to their lands or reconnect to their ancestral homelands, climate change is making life and cultural survival more difficult.
What needs to be done to solve these challenges?
AR: We need to support Indigenous Peoples to do things in their own ways, to maintain connection to the land, to have their own way of governance, to make their own decisions, and to have autonomy and sovereignty. Indigenous Peoples have been marginalized from the dominant cultures around the world through colonization. We need to offer additional support, whether that’s financial or technical, so that they can continue to live the way they want to live. We need to build networks and build solidarity with Indigenous Peoples so that we can learn from each other and support each other.
What is your vision for your role as Executive Director of Cultural Survival?
AR: Cultural Survival already has a really beautiful vision and purpose. I’m really grateful to be stepping into this role and to be a part of it. Elaine Alec, a member of the Syilx (Okanagan) and Secwépemc (Shuswap) Nations in Canada who is the CEO at Naqsmist Storytellers, defines CEO as Chief Empowerment Officer. I see that as my role, to empower the Cultural Survival staff to continue the good work they’ve been doing. For me, it’s really about, how do we work together as a team collectively? How do we fulfill a particular niche within the broader community of people and other organizations working on similar issues? How do we find our specific roles so that we can all together achieve that beautiful vision? These are the things I’m thinking about as I prepare to step into this role.
CS: You have mentioned that you are learning Chahta anumpa (Choctaw language), practicing traditional arts, and growing and preparing traditional foods. Tell us more about your passions.
AR: I’m passionate about the survival and thriving of my own cultures. One of the things that my family and I like to do is to grow our traditional foods. From both my Choctaw and Chickasaw ancestors, we have seeds that have been with our people, with our families, for hundreds and hundreds of years. In fact, they were carried from our homelands when we were forced to walk the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory. One of these is Chikashsha Tanchi Homma, which is a very sweet Chickasaw red corn. Another one of these seeds is Isito, a Choctaw sweet potato squash. These are plant relatives that we’ve been in relationship with for hundreds of years. I love being able to continue that relationship. I’m also studying our language, taking online classes on a weekly basis and learning how to keep our language alive. I’m also the vice president of the board of a nonprofit group called Regalia Making Relatives. We hold cultural classes monthly and other events to help share our knowledge and connect youth and elders to continue our culture and traditions through traditional arts and other Indigenous Traditional Knowledge. And I love to do beadwork. It makes me very happy and relaxed. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has an annual art show, and I was recently informed that my submission was accepted. This is another way for me to help contribute to the continuance of our culture. I am so very grateful for our people, our ancestors, and our lifeways, and I am humbled and honored to be able to give back in reciprocity.
Help us welcome Aimee Roberson (Choctaw & Chickasaw) as our new executive director. We are launching the New Leadership Transition Fund to support Cultural Survival and the new executive director to go through the transition period, build on our strengths and successes, and guide the organization to new work to address the realities of the ever-changing world. We hope we can count on you as we embark on a new era with a new leader.
Top photo: Aimee Roberson with members of Casa Tecmilco and the community radio station of Amatlán de Quetzalcóatl, Morelos, Mexico during a community visit in Morelos, Mexico. Photo by Jamie Malcolm-Brown.
