Alai Reyes-Santos

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University of Oregon

Associate Director of the PNW Just Futures Institute for Climate and Racial Justice

expertise:

Ecosystems, Food + farming, Groundwater, Harmful algae blooms + nutrient pollution, Health, Indigenous & tribal water issues, Racial + environmental justice, Utilities + infrastructure, Water + Sanitation Access, Water quality, Water rights + policies

state: OR

city: Eugene

LGBTQ: YES

languages: English, Spanish

race + ethnicity: Black, African-American, Afro-Caribbean, African or African descendant, Indigenous (e.g. Native, Native American, First Nations, Comunidades Indígenas, Indigenous descendant), Latina/e/o/x or Hispanic (e.g., Latin American, Central American, South American)

Dr. Alai Reyes-Santos specializes in water justice and water-related traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in BIPOC communities. As a founding member of the Oregon Water Futures Collaborative, a community-action research project, she contributes to the articulation of a water justice agenda in the state and nationwide. She is the author of Our Caribbean Kin: Race and Nation in the Neoliberal Antilles (Rutgers 2015) and her Ted-talk “Building Intercultural Communities” is used in higher ed and popular education to initiate guidelines for dialogue across difference. Her training as an Iya, water steward, and co-founder of the AfroIndigenous ceremonial and environmental stewardship community Bohio Cibanani, informs how she leads research and conversations about social violence, power, and solidarity as community healing processes. Dr. Reyes Santos is certified in the ThetaHealing Technique, a meditation practice that she deploys to support individuals engaged in processes of self- and community healing and empowerment.

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‘Respectful Tribal Partnership – What Philanthropy Can Learn From the Navajo Nation’s Collaborative Response to the COVID-19 Crisis’ – WaterWired

Sharon B. Megdal sent me this article, which is an open-access article from The Foundation Review, Volume 14, Issue 2 (June 2022).The issue focuses on