Dr. Melanie McKay Cody
Dr. Melanie McKay-Cody (Cherokee, Shawnee, Powhatan, and Montaukett) earned her doctoral degree in linguistic and socio-cultural anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. She has studied critically endangered Indigenous Sign Languages in North America since 1994 and helps different tribes preserve their tribal signs. She also specialized in Indigenous Deaf studies and interpreter training incorporating Native culture, North American Indian Sign Language, and ASL. She is also an educator and advocate for Indigenous interpreters and students in educational settings. Besides North American Indian Sign Language research, she taught ASL classes in several universities for over 40 years. She is one of eight founders of Turtle Island Hand Talk, a new group focused on Indigenous Deaf/Hard of Hearing/Deaf-Blind and Hearing people.
Braden is a Master's student in Linguistics at the University of Arizona, focusing on Native American Languages and Linguistics (NAMA). Since 2021 Braden has been involved with the Dakota language revitalization efforts of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate on the Lake Traverse Reservation in northeast South Dakota.
