melfillmore@ou.edu
Copeland Hall Room 235A
Melanie Fillmore (they/them/she/her) is urban mixed Hunkpapa, Lakota of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota. Their work is an iterative approach to understand the political engagement of Indigenous communities in policy and data. They envision a future of collaborative governance led by Indigenous ancestral wisdom and lived experiences. Melanie was the lead researcher on the 2020 HCR33 Report on Idaho’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. Their 2024 dissertation “Redefining Missing in the Third Space of Sovereignty” considers how US federalism is fundamentally changed in collaborative structures are created between tribes, states, and the federal institutions. Particularly when tribes are leading collaboration on agreements or policy initiatives.
Prior to joining OU, Mel has taught University Foundations and Anthropology courses at Boise State University on social change, political violence, Native American and Indigenous studies, and Indigenous Methodologies. They have worked as a data analyst for the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence to understand the impacts of domestic violence on Indigenous families across Idaho.
