Season 3, Episode 1: Research as Ceremony with Michael Buck

FieldSound, the official UW College of the Environment podcast, is back for Season 3! Be sure to like, share and subscribe to catch a new episode each Tuesday.

In this episode of FieldSound, we hear from Michael Buck, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and a graduate of the UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs.

Buck’s path in science has been guided by the traditions, stories, practices and knowledge of his community. His research is not just academic; it’s a living practice, deeply rooted in the concept of relationality and “research as ceremony,” where self-reflection, ceremony and reciprocity form a foundation for his work.

As an undergraduate, Buck completed an internship focused on stream health with the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, which sparked his interest in pursuing environmental studies. When the hydroelectric dams were erected on the Columbia, not only salmon were blocked passage. Many other species were blocked from moving up the river and into its tributaries, including suckerfish, sturgeon, steelhead, Pacific lamprey and more. Buck learned the significance of this loss from tribal elder interviews, and realized there is an erased, environmental history that’s not discussed in scientific circles.

Buck is passionate about passing on Indigenous Ways of Knowing to future generations, and infusing oral histories of the Pacific Northwest together with documented histories — offering a fuller, more nuanced understanding of our region’s unique ecology.

His current research looks at ways to blend western science with Indigenous knowledge. He emphasizes that fishery scientists who are making management decisions should interact with the species and the land.

“The practice of biocultural sovereignty — biological and cultural knowledge that goes beyond just one generation — ceremonial values, interacting with the river and developing relationships with the land itself — these are valuable not just to Native people to reintroduce to our children, but valuable to all communities. Cultural revitalization is taking place not only with Columbia River tribes, but also tribes all over the country have found ways to turn cultural genocide into cultural revitalization,” Buck said.

Buck is the 2024 recipient of the Usha and S. Rao Varanasi Endowed Fellowship in Environmental and Marine Stewardship, and the 2023 recipient of the Yakama Nation Endowed Fund for Student Support in the College of the Environment.

Learn more: https://environment.uw.edu/news/2024/10/s3-e1-michael-buck-and-research-as-ceremony/