Peter Nelson

Peter A. Nelson is Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley and became Chair of the Myers Center in fall of 2023. Professor Nelson (Coast Miwok and tribal citizen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) is a former Myers Center Graduate Fellow and has been deeply involved with the center since his days as a graduate student in Anthropology at UC Berkeley. Professor Nelson works at the intersection of anthropological archaeology, Indigenous environmental studies, and Native American Studies on issues of cultural heritage preservation, settler colonialism, climate change, and Indigenous landscape management. Professor Nelson engages Indigenous archaeology and Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methodologies to achieve community partner goals and to document, learn from, and manage tribal cultural and ecological landscapes. Professor Nelson works in collaboration with tribal nations and Indigenous peoples in California and abroad. His ongoing research and stewardship activities with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria at Tolay Lake Regional Park assist his Tribe's co-management of the park with the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department.