Dakota Anderberg

Dakota Anderberg is an enrolled member of onicikiskwapiwinihk (Saddle Lake Cree Nation) with familial ties to Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation from the Bird family on her mother’s side, and mixed European ancestry on her father’s side. While she grew up in Washington state, twenty minutes from Portland, Oregon, she moved to the unceded, traditional territory, and homelands of the Musqueam Peoples in 2017 to attend UBC. Graduating in 2021 with a Bachelors of Arts (majoring in Linguistics and a minoring in Japanese Language and Culture) she has built a strong background in language and linguistics, Indigenous language reclamation, and building meaningful connections. Previously, she held the position of Language Program Navigator at First Peoples’ Cultural Council and connected with Indigenous communities and language nests across British Columbia to support their communities’ language programs.

At HELP, Dakota works with Kinwa Bluesky and Sophie Carriere as the Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator to develop, build, and maintain meaningful relationships with Indigenous communities and organizations. Within the past two years, she has worked on a project titled “Actualizing Indigenous Data Sovereignty Principles” and is now working on a project with Sophie Carriere that aims to foster reciprocal and meaningful relationships between Indigenous Peoples’ and researchers.

Dakota has collected many interests throughout her professional career (including, but not limited to): syntax and morphosyntax, language nests, second language acquisition, the intersections of language and health/wellbeing, and Indigenous data sovereignty.

In her spare time, Dakota can be found with her face deep in a language textbook, conducting research as a leisure activity, studying and practicing new fancy shawl footwork combinations, beading a new piece of regalia, or practicing the technical intricacies of boxing.