Biography
Dr. Charlotte Coté (Tseshaht/Nuu-chah-nulth) is Professor and Chair of American Indian Studies and co-editor of the Indigenous Confluences series at the University of Washington Press. Her scholarship is grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems, relational ecologies, and community-based research, with a particular focus on Indigenous food sovereignty, Indigenous law and governance, coastal food systems, and the revitalization of ancestral foodways through multimedia scholarship and applied/public research.
Dr. Coté’s work examines how cultural foods sustain Indigenous health, wellness, and collective resurgence, with attention to marine-based food traditions and governance practices of the Northwest Coast. In addition to her books, her scholarship includes peer-reviewed articles, collaborative research, and multimedia projects. Her recent book, A Drum in One Hand, A Sockeye in the Other: Stories of Indigenous Food Sovereignty from the Northwest Coast (University of Washington Press, 2022), theorizes Indigenous food sovereignty through place-based teachings, Nuu-chah-nulth epistemologies, and lived relationships with land and water:
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295749518/
Her earlier book, Spirits of Our Whaling Ancestors: Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions (University of Washington Press, 2010), addresses Indigenous self-determination, eco-colonialism, and the cultural resurgence of whaling traditions:
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295711829/
Dr. Coté is the founder of the Living Breath of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Indigenous Foods Collective and the annual Living Breath of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Indigenous Foods Symposium, which brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, students, artists, knowledge keepers, and community members to advance Indigenous food sovereignty and relational food systems. https://livingbreathfoodsymposium.org/
She also serves as Chair of the wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House Advisory Committee, supporting Indigenous-centered spaces, governance, and knowledge production at the University of Washington. https://www.washington.edu/omad/intellectual-house/
Awards and Honors
Research
Selected Research
- Charlotte Coté, “Healing Colonial Wounds: Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Land Back, and Cultural Resurgence,” Nurturing Food Justice, Alison Hope Alkon and Julian Agyeman (eds), (Cambridge: MIT Press, Winter 2026): 85-101.
- Charlotte Coté, “Indigenous Food Sovereignty. Embodying Nuu-chah-nulth Principles of ʔuʔaałuk (to take care of), ʔiisaak (to be respectful), and hišukʔiš c̓awaak (everything is interconnected) in Policy and Practice,” Handbook of Indigenous Public Policy. Indigenous Rights and the Transformation of Policy, Sheryl Lightfoot and Sarah Maddison (Eds.) (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, Spring 2024): 253-271.
- Charlotte Coté, "ʔiisaak (being respectful). Understanding Indigenous food sovereignty and the killing of animals for food,” When Animals Die, Katja M. Guenther & Julian Paul Keenan (eds), (New York: New York University Press, Spring 2024): 153-170.
- Lindsey R. Popken, P. Joshua Griffin, Charlotte Coté, Eric Angel. "Indigenous food sovereignty through resurgent self-governance: centering Nuu-chah-nulth principles in sea otter management in Canada." Published in Ecology and Society, Volume 28, Issue 2.
- Charlotte Coté, “Indigenous Food Sovereignty: Realizing its Potential for Indigenous Decolonization, Self-Determination, and Community Health,” Introduction to Determinants of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Health, Margo Greenwood, Sarah de Leeuw, Roberta Stout, Roseann Larstone, & Julie Sutherland (Eds.) (Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, Summer 2022): 225-236.
- Charlotte Coté. A Drum in One Hand, a Sockeye in the Other: Stories of Indigenous Food Sovereignty from the Northwest Coast. University of Washington Press. January 2022.
- Charlotte Coté, “hishuk’ish tsawalk, Everything is one. Revitalizing Place-based Indigenous Food Systems through the Enactment of Food Sovereignty,” Special Issue, Global Indigeneities and the Environment, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Vol. 9, No. A, (2019): 37-48.
- Charlotte Coté, “‘Indigenizing’ Food Sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the United States,” Humanities, Vol. 5. No. 3 (Spring 2016): 14 pages. Open Access.
- Charlotte Coté. Spirits of our Whaling Ancestors. Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010.