Alexis Bunten

personal information

Biography

Dr Alexis Bunten was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up between Washington, Hawaii, and Alaska. She is of Alaska Native descent and a member of Bristol Bay Native Corporation. After receiving a BA in art history from Dartmouth College, Alexis returned to Alaska where she worked at various levels in the Alaska Native heritage industry.

Throughout her career, Alexis has remained committed to forwarding Native-owned cultural tourism, heritage management, and the performing arts. To hone her expertise in the heritage industry, Alexis obtained a Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA in 2006. Her dissertation explored the political economy of Native-owned tourism and expressions of tribal identity against this backdrop. Her research interests include self-representation, cultural production, cultural commodification, indigenous tourism and media.

Based in California, Alexis is currently at work on a multi-year initiative to develop international alliances among indigenous tourism professionals supported by a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley where she is an active member of the Tourism Studies Working Group. Alexis believes that through dialogue, indigenous peoples worldwide can work together to maximize tourism as a tool for sustainable economic development that supports community-based values.