Brooke Hansen

I am a cultural and medical anthropologist with specialties in contemporary Native American culture, medical pluralism, traditional healing and ethnobotany, applied anthropology, integrative medicine, women’s studies, cultural revitalization among indigenous peoples, Native American environment and land issues, and public anthropology. I also have a developing interest and specialization in health care cultures and indigenous issues in Hawaii and Alaska, where I co-teach anthropology field classes during winter intersession and summer. I am the co-coordinator of two programs and minors, Native American Studies and Integrative Health Studies.

One of my main interests is medical pluralism and how cultures such as our own have incorporated healing traditions from all over the world. My dissertation (University of Arizona, 2001) focused on the politics and possibilities of integrative medicine in the U.S. Locally, I am involved in several organizations, including the Ithaca Health Alliance, where I work with many other dedicated Ithacans in creating innovative and not-for-profit models for individual, community, and cultural wellness.

I am also involved in various Native American organizations in the region, such as the Central New York Native American Consortium, to promote awareness about the continued existence and cultural struggles of our Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) neighbors. I have also been a key member of SHARE (Strengthening Haudenosaunee American Relations through Education) since 1999. SHARE is a grassroots, community based group that I co-founded with a group of local citizens and anthropologists. In 2001, I helped to lead an initiative to purchase 70 acres of organic land in the Cayuga land claim area to repatriate back to the Cayuga people. After 4 years of fundraising, education, and outreach, plans are currently underway to transfer ownership to the traditional Cayuga people to rebuild a home base and build a longhouse, which they have not had in over 200 years. This project, which I have devoted most of my energy to in recent years, is about facilitating people to people solutions that support cultural wellness and revitalization among Native Americans. The collaborative nature of the project has led to many opportunities to explore the role of public anthropology as a vehicle for fostering mutual understanding and respect between Native and non-Native peoples in the area, where there is a significant anti-Indian movement present.