Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies
This research and teaching institute is unique in North America for its structural commitment to Critical Indigenous Studies, a cognate discipline to Critical Ethnic Studies that is rooted in global Indigenous decolonial, feminist, and antiracist scholarship and politics. Its primary purpose is not cultural education, but rather the robust and ethical engagement of Indigenous political, methodological, and ideological concerns and conditions. Attention is given to the structures of and relationships between domains of knowledge and power, and the ways that experience informs knowledge across and between categories of difference. The commitments shaping CIS are therefore focused on empowering Indigenous peoples and transforming Indigenous-settler relationships through sophisticated and engaged, collaborative, and mutually respectful research and practice.
Campus
Affiliated UBC Faculty & Postdocs
| Name | Role | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Callison, Candis | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | changes to media practices and platforms, journalism ethics, the role of social movements in public discourse, and understanding how issues related to science and technology become meaningful for diverse publics. |
| Coulthard, Glen | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | First Nations politics – national; political theory |
| Gaertner, David | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Indigenous literatures; Media, visual and digital culture; Critical identity, ethnic and race studies; Indigenous Literature; Digital storytelling; Digital Humanities; Speculative fiction; Reconciliation; New Media; Indigenous Cyberspace |
| Galla, Candace | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | what types of technology initiatives (low-, mid-, or high) Indigenous language communities are using to revitalize, maintain, and promote their language |
| Justice, Daniel | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Aboriginal, First Nations, Metis, Indigenous, Aboriginal literature, Aboriginal cultures, Aboriginal history, Aboriginal Studies, First Nations Studies, badgers, animal studies, cultural studies, GLBT issues, Queer Studies, sexuality, First Nations Studies Program, Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture |
| Lightfoot, Sheryl | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | First Nations, international relations |
| Rosenblum, Daisy | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | multi-modal documentation and description of indigenous languages of North America, with an emphasis on methods, partnerships, and products that contribute to community-based language revitalization |
| Thrush, Coll | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Indigenous history; settler colonialism; Pacific history; Northwest Coast |
| Turin, Mark | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Anthropology; Cultural Institutions (Museums, Libraries, etc.); Lexicography and Dictionaries; Language Contact and Linguistic Changes; Language Rights and Policies; Language Interactions; Political Culture, Society and Ideology; Bella Bella; Bhutan; First Nations; Heiltsuk; Indigeneity; Nepal; Sikkim; Tibet |