Reflexivity is central to how I approach environmental anthropology and human dimensions research. I understand knowledge, including my own, as situated and shaped by lived experience, relationships, histories, institutions, and ways of knowing. This perspective guides my attention to how people understand their relationships with environments and other forms of life, while recognizing that different forms of knowledge are not interchangeable and do not carry the same authority in every context.

As a White settler researcher, I am attentive to how my experiences, training, and institutional position shape the questions I ask, the relationships I build, and the interpretations I bring to my work. This is especially important in environmental research shaped by colonial histories, Tribal sovereignty, resource extraction, and unequal relationships of power. For me, reflexivity means ongoing listening, intellectual humility, and accountability, i.e., being transparent about the limits of my perspective and attentive to whose knowledge is recognized, whose experiences are represented, and who holds authority in environmental research and decision-making.