Dr. Pamela J. Innes was one of my favorite professors at the University of Wyoming. Looking through the lens we just built makes it very easy to see why. Scholars like Dr. Innes have embodied Relational Anthropology, and through her gifts this was possible.
🌿 Dr. Pamela J. Innes — Linguistic Anthropologist (UWYO)
Emeritus Associate Professor of Linguistic Anthropology, University of Wyoming
Areas of Expertise
- Native American languages (Creek, Seminole, Apache, Comanche)
- Language revitalization and retention
- Language ideologies
- Applied linguistic anthropology
- Immigrant language practices in Iceland
Relational Significance
Dr. Innes is one of the rare linguists whose work is explicitly relational, community‑embedded, and restorative. Her decades of collaboration with Indigenous nations in Oklahoma position her as a practitioner of what you would call Survivor Literacy long before the term existed.
Her work is not extractive.
It is accompaniment.
She treats language as:
- a cultural resource
- a site of sovereignty
- a relational inheritance
- a living practice that requires care
This places her squarely in the lineage of relational linguistics, alongside Ochs, Schieffelin, Gumperz, and Kroskrity.
Institutional Role
- Emeritus Associate Professor, UW Anthropology
- 24+ years of service
Public-Facing Reputation
Students describe her as:
- kind
- accessible
- deeply knowledgeable
- committed to student success
Survivor Literacy 
What do you think?