Dina Gilio Whitaker

Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos, and an independent consultant and educator in environmental justice policy planning. Her research focuses on Indigenous nationalism, self-determination, environmental justice, and education. At Cal State San Marcos, her courses examine environmentalism and American Indians, traditional ecological knowledge, religion and philosophy, Native women’s activism, American Indians and sports, and decolonization. Gilio-Whitaker also works within the field of critical sports studies, examining the intersections of indigeneity and the sport of surfing.

As a public intellectual, Gilio-Whitaker brings her scholarship into focus as an award-winning journalist as well, contributing to numerous online outlets including Indian Country Today, the Los Angeles Times and High Country News. Dina is co-author with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz of Beacon Press’s All the Real Indians Died Off and 20 Other Myths About Native Americans (2016), and her most recent book, As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock, was released in 2019.