Pharmacology to Air Quality – Nez Perce Tribe ERWM Intern’s Quest for Culturally Centered Solutions

Boozhoo Indinawemaganag. Johanna indizhinikaaz, maangnweweikwe indigoo. Bangii eta go ingikendan anishinaabemoyan, daga bebekaa inenimishin giishpin wanagiizhiweyaan. Giigoon indoodem. Wiigwaasikaag miinawaa gwaba’iganing indoojibaa. Nimiipuu nindazhiike. (Hello all of my relatives. My name is Johanna Bernu, and I am called maangnweweikwe. I only know a little bit of our language so please forgive me as I pick it up to carry with me. I am from the fish clan. I come from the Wiigwaasikaag and gwaba’iganing communities. I am staying with the Nimiipuu now.)

I am incredibly excited to have the opportunity to be living and working in your community for eight weeks this summer as an Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals intern in the Nez Perce ERWM Air Quality Program. Throughout the summer I am looking forward to leading and planning culturally centered air quality outreach and education programming for youth and adults at local libraries, camps, boys and girls clubs and other community spaces! This internship presents an excellent opportunity for me to get to know your community and exercise my passion for culturally grounded STEM activities.

I am anishinaabe and grew up within the gwaaba’iganing community on the Fond Du Lac Reservation in Northeastern Minnesota with my parents, my dog, Bear, and my cat, Rain. I am incredibly passionate about traditional medicines and Indigenous language revitalization; you can often find me talking to plants or non-human relatives in ojibwemowin. My childhood consisted of me dancing fancy shawl at powwows, playing baga’adowewin (traditional Ojibwe lacrosse) with friends and family, paddling in jiimaan (canoe) races, and fishing alongside my dad and the broader community. These experiences fostered my love for community events and spending time outdoors.

I graduated from Cloquet High School where I became deeply involved in language revitalization efforts through our Ojibwe Quiz Bowl team and language tables. With my team and our coach, we had the opportunity to travel to Ojibwe communities across Minnesota competing and conversing in our language. In addition to this and my courses, I was part of Mock Trial, Theater productions, student government, National Honor Society, and peer tutoring initiatives. Outside of school, I worked as a camp counselor for a culturally grounded STEAM camp through the Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College and I conducted research using Kaandoosh, a traditional medicine from my community, as a part of regional, national, and international science fairs. My high school experience and my home community instilled in me a deep value of interdisciplinary work and the importance of strong community.

I now study at Yale University, where I am entering my sophomore year. I am currently planning on double majoring with a B.S. in Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics and a B.A. in History of Science Medicine and Public Health. Outside of class, I tutor in STEM topics, run with my residential college’s run club, work as house staff at the Native American Cultural Center, take backpacking trips with Yale outdoors, and participate in open mic nights playing guitar with friends. In addition, I continue to complete research on Kaandoosh in a research laboratory alongside fellow students studying traditional medicines from around the world. My project aims to provide empirical support so that Kaandoosh may be re-integrated into healthcare practices within Ojibwe communities. After my time at Yale, I hope to pursue a graduate degree in Ethnopharmacology: focusing on the centralization of Indigenous traditional knowledge within medical spaces. In doing so, I hope to spend my life doing projects like my high school science fair project: providing empirical support for our traditional medicines so that they may be openly prescribed within our clinics. I wholeheartedly believe that the land and fellow relative beings provide us with gifts to live well, we just need to take time to stop and listen.

Johanna with Namegos (Lake Trout) that was netted within the 1854 ceded territory alongside community partners.