Rosalyn LaPier is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and Métis. She is an Associate Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Montana. Her work focuses on the revitalization of Indigenous & traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), environmental justice and the climate crisis, and strengthening public policy for Indigenous languages. You can learn more about La Pier’s work at her website: rosalynlapier.com
LaPier is the author of two award-winning books, including Invisible Reality: Storytellers, Storytakers, and the Supernatural World of the Blackfeet (2017). This book presents a vital look at Blackfeet history and the traditional belief that Blackfeet made nature adapt to them. She is also the coauthor of City Indian: Native American activism in Chicago, 1893-1934 (2015) with David Beck, which tells the story of American Indian men and women who migrated to Chicago from across America in the time period of 1893 to 1934, and reconstructs their political, social, and educational activism.
LaPier co-founded Saokio Heritage, a community-based organization, which serves as a platform to amplify the voices of Indigenous women activists & writers. She also serves on the board of the National Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs, believing that embedded within Indigenous languages is a community’s environmental knowledge. In the past she previously worked at the Piegan Institute, a private non-profit on the Blackfeet reservation working to revitalize the Blackfeet language.
Contact Information:
• Rosalyn.lapier@mso.umt.edu • 406-243-6787
Select Recent Works:
LaPier, Rosalyn R. Invisible Reality: Storytellers, Storytakers, and the Supernatural World of the Blackfeet. New Visions in Native American and Indigenous Studies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, American Philosophical Society, 2017.
LaPier, Rosalyn and David. R.M. Beck. “American Indian Moving to Cities.” In Why You Can’t Teach U.S. History Without American Indians, ed. Susan Sleeper-Smith, Juliana Barr, Jean M. O’Brien, Nancy Shoemaker, and Scott Stevens. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2015.
LaPier, Rosalyn and David R.M. Beck. City Indian: Native American Activism in Chicago, 1893-1934. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015.
LaPier, Rosalyn and David R.M. Beck. “‘One Man Relocation Team:’ Scott Henry Peters and American Indian Migration in the 1930’s.” Western Historical Quarterly 45, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 17-36.
LaPier, Rosalyn and David R.M. Beck. “Crossroads for a Culture: American Indians in Progressive Era Chicago.” Chicago History, Spring 2012.
LaPier, Rosalyn. “Métis Life Along Montana’s Front Range.” In Beyond the Shadows of the Rockies: History of the Augusta Area. Augusta MT: Augusta Historical Society, 2007.