Tucson, AZ — The University of Arizona has long been a standard bearer in Indigenous studies, says Rebecca Tsosie, J.D., Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law. “That’s the DNA of this institution,” she says. “The U of A was the flagship, known for its commitment to collaborative research with Indigenous faculty and communities.”

Tsosie recounts the history: In 1982, ABOR approved the American Indian Studies master’s program, guided by legendary Native faculty, including the late Vine Deloria Jr. and N. Scott Momaday. The College of Medicine was also among the first medical schools to focus on Native health equity, led by respected Native scholars in Family and Community Medicine, Dr. Jennie Joe and the late Dr. Francine Gachupin.

Tsosie and colleague Michael Kotutwa Johnson, assistant professor in the School of Natural Resources & the Environment and specialist on Indigenous resilience for Cooperative Extension, urge the university to remember and fully engage its comparative advantage as a leader in collaborative research and education with Indigenous faculty and communities.

The two scholars recently co-authored "The Seed is the Law: Creating New Governance Frameworks for Indigenous Heirloom Seeds and Traditional Knowledge," published in the UCLA Law Review in August 2025. The article responds to a 2024 United Nations treaty on "Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Associated Traditional Knowledge," arguing for stronger protections of Indigenous cultural heritage—such as heirloom seeds and the knowledge connected to them—and examining legal frameworks from Tribal customary law, U.S. law, and international human rights law.

“Arizona Tribes need the cooperation of broader society to safeguard the survival tools provided by their heritage, and society needs those tools to survive." — Rebecca Tsosie

Tsosie and Kotutwa say a courageous vision of collaboration is needed to keep all of us, and Arizonans in particular, alive and thriving into the future. “Arizona Tribes need the cooperation of broader society to safeguard the survival tools provided by their heritage, and society needs those tools to survive,” says Tsosie.

Indigenous seed stewardship, they say, reflects a worldview that is practical, relational, and spiritual. It is rooted in the understanding that no individual, tribe or species survives in isolation. Human thriving depends on the well-being of all elements that sustain life—land, water, seeds, climate, and community.

“We need to return to a fuller, more resilient understanding of what it means to live well." — Michael Kotutwa Johnson

This integrated perspective challenges purely market-driven or short-term approaches to agricultural innovation and environmental management. “We need to return to a fuller, more resilient understanding of what it means to live well,” Kotutwa says.

Through their scholarship, Tsosie and Johnson not only advance legal and policy frameworks but also invite a broader cultural reckoning: that securing the future of humanity means adopting systems that honor interdependence, reciprocity, and the long-term well-being of all things that support us.