Michael A. Buck

Michael A. Buck is enrolled with the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and was raised in the traditional manner of the Columbia River Plateau People from his father, Kenneth.  He is also descended from the Nooksack Tribe and River from his mother, Carmen.  Michael has developed a love and respect for Indigenous scholarly research and Ways of Knowing (IWOK), at Heritage University on the Yakama Nation reservation and the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.

Michael carries rights and responsibilities as a traditional leader of the Waashut, or 7-Drum Ceremonies.  The responsibilities of caring for the Xwach, or Sweathouse, is also of great importance and significance to his health and wellbeing.   Winter ceremonies of the Columbia River people include the Wanptsa, or Medicine Dance, which and Michael follows these teachings in his life.  The Medicine Dance families practice and demonstrate reciprocity and relationality to cultural foods, medicines, and entities found in nature through song and ceremony since singe immemorial.

Currently, Michael works as a traditional medicine practitioner in the Traditional Indian Medicine (TIM) Department at Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) in Seattle.  The network of public health TIM practitioners across numerous Tribal Nations promote traditional ways of healing through prevention, ceremony, traditional medicine gathering, and prayer.

Michael aspires to continue his education as a PhD student in the Anthropology Department at the University of Washington beginning in Autumn 2026.  The social-cultural anthropology research team works in partnership with the Burke Museum and Indigenous Peoples of the Marshall Islands.

Michael enjoys walking in nature, visiting coffee shops, playing Scrabble, and movies and music of the 1980s.