Xéetl’ee Katelyn Stiles

Xéetl'ee Katelyn Stiles is Lingít, Kiks.ádi Clan of Kax̲átjaa Hít [Jumping Herring House] in Sheet’ká Ḵwáan [Sitka, Alaska]. Kiks.ádi women are known as Kax̲átjaa Sháa [Herring Ladies]. Xéetl’ee is a tribal citizen of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. She grew up on Northern Chumash land, and currently lives in Sheet'ká, the home of her mother's people.

Xéetl'ee is an artist/scholar, filmmaker, dancer, and educator. She is a PhD candidate in Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis and a Term Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies at UAS Sitka Campus. Her community-based research centers the rematriation of Herring Lady embodied protocols with Yaaw [Pacific Herring] to co-create ecosystems. Her work crosses into critical Indigenous Studies, Feminist Science and Technology Studies, and Improvisation and Performance Studies. She holds a B.A. in Art Practice with a minor in Dance & Performance Studies from UC Berkeley and a M.A. in Native American Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Performance and Practice from UC Davis. Before her studies, she danced professionally in different contexts. Before starting her graduate work, she lived in Berlin, Germany for several years, where her work was screened internationally in film festivals. Her recent projects include the film Yee eedé tooshí áa [We sing to you] and the creation of new Herring Lady dances, both collaborations with Ḵ'asheechtlaa Louise Brady.