Department of History

Tara’s work centers Indigenous knowledge, governance, and kinship with land to examine the intersections of environmental history, conservation policy, and oil and gas development in Arctic Alaska. Her perspective as a Gwich’in and Filipina scholar from Dena'ina Ełnena (Anchorage, Alaska) and Vashrąįį K’ǫǫ (Arctic Village, Alaska) and as an enrolled member of the Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government informs her research on how Gwich’in relationships with the Porcupine caribou herd and tundra and water systems within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge challenge conventional approaches to conservation and resource management while advancing Indigenous stewardship and self-determination.