Awards/Fellowships:

 

Bio

Adrienne Keene is a writer, scholar, and visual artist and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She is originally from southern California, and now lives on the Cherokee reservation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She writes essays and books that explore how Native people are represented in popular culture, as well as utilizing themes of reclamation, reconnection, and Indigenous futurisms to examine the impacts of settler colonialism on her family. She is the creator and author of the blog Native Appropriations, the co-creator and former co-host of the All My Relations Podcast, and the author of Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present (Ten Speed Press). Her essays and commentary have appeared in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, Stanford Magazine, Teen Vogue, Catapult Magazine, Indian Country Today, and others, as well as numerous academic journals and edited volumes. Her visual art practice explores traditional Cherokee art forms like basketry, beadwork, and twining with contemporary and found materials. She is currently a 2025-2027 Tulsa Artist Fellow.

Adrienne holds a BA in Native American Studies and Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University and a doctorate in Culture, Communities, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to her time as a Tulsa Artist Fellow, Adrienne was an Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, teaching courses in Indigenous studies.

For the academic types (feel free to shorten as needed): 

Adrienne Keene is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and is a scholar, writer, podcaster, and visual artist. Her research areas include college access, transition, and persistence for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Students, including the role of pre-college access programs in student success. Additionally, she examines representations of Native peoples in popular culture, Native cultural appropriation in fashion and design, and the ways that Indigenous peoples are using the internet, social media, and new media to challenge misrepresentations and create new and innovative spaces for art and activism.

She is the author of Notable Native People: 50 Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present, a 2022 American Indian Youth Literature Young Adult Honor Book from the American Library Association, and the co-creator and co-host of the popular podcast All My Relations.

Dr. Keene has a deep personal commitment to exploring research methodologies that empower Native communities and privilege Native voices and perspectives, with the ultimate goal of increasing educational outcomes for Native students. She is also dedicated to pushing back against stereotypes and misrepresentations of Native peoples on her blog, Native Appropriations (nativeappropriations.com), which has received national and international attention as a voice on contemporary Indigenous issues. 

A former faculty member at Brown University, Dr. Keene teaches courses on Indigenous Education, Native representations, and Native American Studies more broadly.

She earned her BA from Stanford University in Native American Studies and Cultural Anthropology, and her doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, in Culture, Communities, and Education.