Lyla June Johnston stands as one of the most influential Indigenous public intellectuals and artists of her generation. A singer, poet, scholar, environmental scientist, community organizer, and advocate for Indigenous sovereignty, her work is rooted in the belief that healing the human spirit and healing the Earth are inseparable. Across disciplines, cultures, and borders, she embodies a worldview in which ecological stewardship, cultural revitalization, compassion, gender balance, and intergenerational responsibility are not optional ideals but necessary foundations for the survival and flourishing of humanity.

Early Life and Cultural Foundations

Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Lyla June is of Diné (Navajo), Cheyenne, and European-American lineages. Her upbringing gave her an intimate understanding of both Indigenous and Western worldviews. Her Diné identity in particular has shaped her ethics and her purpose: the belief that we are in relationship with land, waters, animals, and each other — not as resources to use, but as relatives to respect.

Her childhood was filled with ceremony, language, and teachings about reciprocity. She has often said that she makes music not to “entertain,” but to remember — recalling the spiritual and ecological intelligence of Indigenous societies that cared for the earth for millennia before colonization disrupted their balance.

Academic Path and Indigenous Scholarship

Lyla June’s academic achievements are as noteworthy as her artistic ones. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Human Ecology and later a Master’s degree in Native American Pedagogy. She then completed her PhD in Indigenous Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, with research centered on Indigenous land-management systems and ancient food forests.

Her doctoral work challenges dominant historical narratives by demonstrating that pre-colonial Indigenous societies across the Americas were not “untouched wilderness dwellers,” but highly sophisticated agricultural and ecological engineers, cultivating biodiversity rather than depleting it. This evidence supports a new paradigm in environmental justice: the survival of the planet requires not the “preservation” of land from people, but the restoration of Indigenous stewardship.

Artistic Journey — Music as Ceremony, Story, and Resistance

Lyla June is best known to many through her music and spoken word. A gifted vocalist and composer, she merges hip-hop, folk, chant, and traditional singing. Her performances often include hand drum, guitar, and the vocal modality of prayer.

Signature works such as “All Nations Rise,” “Time Traveler,” “Lyons” and performances like “Indigenous Women Rise” express recurring themes:

• rematriation — the restoration of women to positions of spiritual and civic leadership
• intertribal solidarity
• reconnection with ancestral foodways and lifeways
• the healing of historical trauma
• compassion as a tool of survival and revolution

Her music has been performed at international gatherings of Indigenous nations, global climate conferences, and social justice movements. It speaks to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences — an artistic bridge across histories and identities.

Spiritual Grounding

Lyla June’s worldview is spiritual but not dogmatic. She draws from Diné teachings, pan-Indigenous ceremony, and universal ethics shared across Earth-based peoples. Her spirituality emphasizes:

• gratitude toward creation
• humility in what we take from the world
• the emotional healing of individuals as a prerequisite for collective change
• community accountability
• the sacredness of children and future generations

She frequently reminds her audiences that violence, oppression, and environmental destruction are not “human nature,” but symptoms of disconnection from spirit.

Activism and Global Leadership

More than a performer, Lyla June is a movement-builder. Her activism spans:

• Indigenous rights and land sovereignty
• climate justice
• regenerative agriculture
• protection of sacred sites
• women’s leadership and gender balance
• interfaith and intercultural peacebuilding

She has given major addresses and musical presentations at:

• the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
• the World Climate Summit
• the Parliament of the World’s Religions
• international Indigenous food and agriculture conferences
• gatherings of global peacemakers

Her diplomacy is unusual in modern activism:
she speaks truth without vilifying, advocates without dehumanizing, and uses music not to shame but to awaken.

Philosophical Contributions — A New World Through an Ancient Lens

Lyla June is helping shape a paradigm shift in how societies imagine the future. Her work suggests that the next chapter of humanity will emerge not from technological supremacy, but from remembering how to live in right relationship.

Three convictions run through her scholarship and art:

1. We are meant to belong to the Earth, not rule it.
The goal is not progress against nature, but progress with nature.
 

2. Women’s wisdom is required for planetary healing.
Leadership grounded in balance, compassion, and intergenerational thinking.
 

3. Colonial wounds will not heal through hatred but through courage, community, and truth-telling.
Justice and compassion are not opposites — they are interdependent.

Impact and Legacy-in-Progress

Lyla June’s influence continues to grow across continents. She is embraced simultaneously by:

• Indigenous communities
• youth climate movements
• musicians
• educators
• peacemakers
• faith leaders
• environmental scientists

Her work shows a new synthesis emerging worldwide:
Ancient ecological wisdom + contemporary scholarship + spiritual courage + creative expression.

She represents a generation of Indigenous leaders who are not simply reviving the past but restoring the balance of the future.

Lyla June often says that every person alive today is the descendant of someone who once lived in deep relationship with the Earth. Her message is not about Indigenous people alone — it is about re-Indigenizing the human heart.

Her life suggests that healing is possible — across peoples, histories, and landscapes — if we reclaim reverence, gratitude, and compassion as the center of human civilization.

“What we do now becomes the memory of our children.
May we leave them something beautiful.”

~ Lyla June Johnston