Dr. Risako (Risa) Sakai is as an Uchinānchu/Lūchūan woman and is currently a post-doctoral fellow working with Dr. Amelia Moore at Cornell University. She explores rematriation (a form of repatriation grounded in Indigenous feminism) in her post-doctoral research, while working on a book manuscript and initiating a journal publication regarding a Lūchūan methodology.  Her dissertation examined Indigenous resurgence and marine conservation, applying decolonizing and Indigenous methodologies. During her Ph.D. studies, she conducted an internship with Drs. Yoshitaka Ota and Chris McOwen, focusing on Indigenous perspectives on MPA consultation with Indigenous communities and the case study of French Polynesia. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Anthropology from Oregon State University and her M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Memphis.