Alexis Bunten

Alexis Bunten, (Unangan/Yup’ik) has served as a program director, media-maker, consultant, and applied researcher for over 20 years. Her expertise includes Indigenous-led economic development, organizational decolonization, and cross-cultural communications.

Alexis’ clients have included the Native Women Lead, National Black MBA Association, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Biomimicry Institute, Alaska Federation of Natives, First Nations Development Institute, US Census Statistical Research Division, College Horizons, Hoonah Totem Corporation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, BBC Television, the Nerland Agency, and many others.

After receiving a BA in Art History at Dartmouth College, Alexis returned to Alaska, where she worked at the Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Subsequently, Alexis earned a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at UCLA. She has taught at UCLA, and Humboldt State University, completed Postdoctoral fellowships at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and served as an invited scholar in residence at the University of Victoria Auckland and Sorbonne University, Paris.

Alexis has received recognition and awards from the US National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, and the Native American Film and Television Awards, among many others. In addition to publishing widely in academic and mainstream media outlets, Alexis’ 2015 book, “So, how long have you been Native?” Life as an Alaska Native Tour Guide” won the Alaska Library Association Award. The follow-up anthology, “Indigenous Tourism Movements,” was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2018. Her first children’s book, “Keepunumuk, Weachumun’s Thanksgiving Story,” published by Charlesbridge Press, was released in August 2022, and has been awarded the New England Book Award.