Hannah Kelley

Hannah Kelley is an interdisciplinary researcher, educator, and policy analyst based in Rapid City, South Dakota, whose work centers Indigenous sovereignty, environmental justice, and the defense of land and water protectors. Her interests lie at the intersection of Indigenous environmental law and policy, corporate accountability, and the criminalization, surveillance, and prosecution of Indigenous resistance movements. She is committed to producing rigorous, movement-accountable research that supports litigation, court observation, public education, and community-led advocacy—particularly work addressing protest policing, corporate security forces, state repression, and the erosion of civil and treaty rights connected to land and water protection.

Her professional background includes policy and research work in environmental health, climate justice, and community infrastructure, including projects focused on water access, public health, and climate impacts in Indigenous communities. She has conducted interdisciplinary research spanning legal analysis, public policy, and data-driven inquiry, with experience translating research into public-facing reports, advocacy materials, and decision-making tools. Across this work, Hannah prioritizes accountability to impacted communities and a research practice grounded in respect, consent, and reciprocity. Hannah brings experience supporting litigation and advocacy through research synthesis, court observation,

public-facing reporting, and the translation of complex legal and institutional systems into accessible tools for movement partners.

Hannah also serves as the Education Coordinator for Wounspe Yuha, a community-based education co-op under Wambli Ska Okolakiciye. In this role, she supports Indigenous youth and young adults re-engaging with education through culturally grounded, small-group learning models that emphasize relational accountability, oral tradition, and strengths-based pedagogy. This work informs her broader commitment to addressing structural harm—including educational push-out, criminalization, and surveillance—that disproportionately impacts Indigenous communities.

Hannah holds a B.A. in Public Policy and Human Biology from Stanford University, where her studies focused on environmental policy, community health, and systems-level approaches to inequality. She is especially interested in bridging legal research, policy analysis, and movement defense, and in

contributing research that strengthens Indigenous self-determination, protects sacred lands and waters, and advances justice for land and water protectors and their communities.