Dr. Smith's research focuses on landscapes, place and space, the construction and negotiation of cultural identities, and the politics of representation. She explores these concepts primarily in Ireland, in both historic and contemporary time periods. Spatial relations and material culture are central to her research, thus her work bridges many sub-disciplines: cultural anthropology, ethnohistory, and historical archaeology and reaches out to a broader audience that includes geographers and historians.

Her PhD dissertation entitled "Mapping Meanings: Representing Landscapes and Pasts in 19th Century Ireland", focused on the representation of social landscapes and the construction of competing identities on the colonial maps. Her research explores how the landscape and the past have been shaped by and help to shape the social meanings and social relations of power at the local level.

In keeping with these issues of place and identity, Dr. Smith's current research project, funded by the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada (SSHRD), deals with contemporary concerns of changing identity in Ireland within the European Union, and the results of the new urbanization process in Dublin, Ireland. Her interest is in the spatial marginalization of the new influx of refugees and asylum seekers and their experience with racism in Ireland. Specifically, she focuses on how the Irish State spatially engineers the social experiences of asylum seekers in Direct Provision Accommodation Centres, where they are housed for as long as 3-5 years as they await a decision on their refugee status.

Her teaching, like her research, crosses sub-disciplinary boundaries. She has taught widely across all fields of Anthropology: Introductory courses, theory courses and upper level thematic courses, including "Social Inequality", "Feminist Anthropology" and "Landscape, Place and Culture". In all of these she has emphasized the integrated and holistic nature of anthropological material. She is committed to teaching and mentoring both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Social/Spatial Mapping of Asylum Seeker Centres in Ireland
As part of the larger project "Articulating Place and Identity: Social and Spatial Exclusion/Inclusion of Asylum Seekers in Ireland" this research maps the location of the State controlled asylum seeker Direct Provision Accommodation Centres across Ireland.
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Dr. LaTosky is a cultural anthropologist interested in gender, pastoralism and indigenous cultural heritage in East Africa. As a qualitative methodologist, she uses ethnography, visual and material analysis and indigenous methodologies as modes of inquiry to pursue theoretically informed empirical studies in Ethiopia and beyond. She has conducted extensive ethnographic research in Southern Ethiopia since 2003, publishing on the interaction of gender, rhetoric, material cultural heritage and development on practices of relatedness and processes of social change in the Lower Omo Valley. Her most recent publication Rhetoric and Social Relations: dialectics of bonding and contestation Abbink and LaTosky, 2021) explores the constitutive role of rhetoric in socio cultural relations. She conducts most of her research with Mun (Mursi) agro pastoralists on themes that are of contemporary relevance to the communities with whom she works, from conservation and tourism, to indigenous education, food sovereignty and customary land use practices.

She is currently working on an ethnobotanical film project (together with Olisarali Olibui )): Milking the marula ( chobo y)y): How the Mun agro pastoralists relish the foods of the forest for the Guardians of Productive Landscapes (GPL) project and film series . She is also currently involved in an international project with SOAS (University of London) and the South Omo Theatre Company (SOT), which she cofounded in 2019. The outcome of this project is a play and film about the the first ever Mun (Mursi) indigenous theatre performance Tirainy ko Koisani (Playing the Mediator), performed July 31 st , 2022, at the National Theatre in Addis Ababa. Both applied projects animate new arenas of political mobilization and representation for the Mun in Ethiopia.

Her recent interest in visual anthropology focuses on how visual ethnography can not only be applied and participatory, but also rhetorical and interventional. Her future research will look at endangered indigenous heritage and UNESCO heritage sites in the Horn of Africa through multiple lenses. She is also planning a handbook of Mun edible plants and a language app for young Mun who are now being schooled in outsider languages.

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Dr. Bouchard has been conducting research on the history of North America’s Métis and [French-]Canadien historical communities. Working with a multidisciplinary team of scholars, his recent work includes a detailed analysis of the Bois-Brûlé or Métis community of Maniwaki in western Québec’s Ottawa region. This work with Dr. Sébastien Malette (Carleton University) and Guillaume Marcotte argues for the existence of a historical Métis community and builds upon prior scholarship arguing for a continental and rhizomatic Métis ethnogenesis. One book, Les Bois-Brûlés de l’Outaouais. Une étude ethnoculturelle des Métis de la Gatineau Les Bois-Brûlés de l’Outaouais. Une étude ethnoculturelle des Métis de la Gatineau (https://www.pulaval.com/produit/les-bois-brules-de-l-outaouais-etude-ethnoculturelle-et-juridique-des-metis-de-la-gatineau) is currently in press and an expanded English version of this work has been accepted for publication pending funding. These books build upon the 2016 co-authored book Songs Upon the Rivers: The Buried History of the French-Speaking Canadiens and Métis from the Great Lakes and the Mississippi across to the Pacific (co-authored with Robert Foxcurran and Sébastien Malette, https://www.barakabooks.com/catalogue/songs-upon-the-rivers/). Dr. Bouchard is currently working on the history of the Canadien and Métis of British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.

This research on Métis ethnogenesis builds upon past research examining issues of nationhood among Russian-speakers in Estonia as well as that of the Komi and other ethnonational populations in Russia. At the outset, the research he conducted took for granted the recent invention of nations. However, as new lines of inquiry emerge, he has developed a new theoretical framework for understanding nationhood and other forms of community. Rather than accepting the easy premise that states create nations, he is proposing that other institutions are equally (if not more) important than states in the emergence of national communities. Currently, he is examining the role of the Orthodox Church in the rise of the concept of 'narod' or 'people' in Russian. Other highlights of his research include an examination of graves and the ways in which they are a focus for community among Russians, the concept of the Russian soul and the ways in which this metaphor defines not only Russian nationhood but many others and finally the significance of memorials and museums in defining identity.

Dr. Bouchard states that given his range of interests, he would entertain proposals from students interested in conducting various research topics around the world and in Canada. This would include: ethnohistorical research into Métis and Canadien historical communities as well as contemporary communities, an examination of Canada's Russian-speaking populations (Old Believers, Dukhobors, recent immigrants); a study of the Russian-speaking populations anywhere in the world, whether in Israel, Europe or elsewhere; or any research proposal examining one of North America's French-speaking.

Dr. Rahemtulla is an archaeologist with a wide range of research interests. He has been involved in several archaeological projects throughout the coast and interior of British Columbia, and in Eastern Africa. His current geographic foci are the North Pacific Rim, specifically, British Columbia and Siberia. Topical interests include: archaeological theory; lithic and bone technology; zooarchaeology; complex societies; household archaeology; archaeology of human origins; archaeological resource management; Indigenous Peoples and archaeology; and public archaeology.

Current Projects:

• Ancestral First Nations land-use and settlement patterns between 11,000-5,000 years ago on the central coast of British Columbia. Using newly developed techniques and theoretical frameworks, Farid is examining the stone tool technology at the site of Namu, which is located in Heiltsuk Traditional Territory.
• Use of terrestrial mammal bone in coastal archaeological communities. An examination of the way in which land mammal remains in coastal sites are conceptualised by archaeologists.
• Pebble tools and fish processing. Experimental projects to assess the potential of using pebble tool technology to process salmon.The development of early hominid cognition during the Lower Palaeolithic, based on palaeoenvironmental and archaeologic evidence from Eastern Africa.

I am an anthropological archaeologist whose research focusses on heritage and movement in contested colonial landscapes (Canada and Cyprus). My previous research in Canada with the indigenous Stl’atl’imx people of the Lower Lillooet River Valley (SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow 2011-2013) highlighted the relationship among heritage, identity and movement.

I have recently completed a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship at the University of Glasgow, Scotland where my research (PATH: Pathways to Heritage (2016-2018) explored heritage formation and its articulation in a rural village in Cyprus. Like many rural villages around the world, Nikitari faces depopulation as young people move to the city for employment. I worked with the local Women’s Group, Youth Group and other community volunteers to document the places and practices in the village that are meaningful to them.

I continue to explore the role of participatory techniques and community-based approaches in the formation of community identity and empowerment and reflect on my own role in the process of heritage formation.

Brenda Guernsey is an applied anthropologist who lives and works in northwest British Columbia. After obtaining her MA in Anthropology from the University of Northern BC in 2010, Brenda started a heritage consulting business, Cedarwood Heritage Consulting based in Terrace, BC. Firmly grounded in community based research methods, Brenda employed her anthropological training to work with various communities and community organizations on projects with a culture and heritage aspect. These projects have been diverse, including researching and producing a brochure for tourism, working with local museums to create signage and assist with collections management, working with the Regional District and the City of Terrace to obtain official provincial heritage status for various cultural sites and heritage structures in the region, coordinating projects for local non-profit agencies, one of which included working with the Gila Kyew Nluulk Headstart and Daycare, and Success by Six Northwest to edit and produce seven children’s books based on the heritage of the Kitsumkalum people, with each story adapted from primary archival sources.  These and many other projects over the years demonstrate the wide applicability of anthropological research methods and core concepts.

More recently, Brenda’s applied work has been primarily focussed on heritage research with Kitsumkalum First Nation, a Tsimshian community that she has worked with in a variety of research capacities since 2002. This work has involved overseeing the social history research for the community – research projects that are guided by the community hereditary and Band leadership.  These projects are both grounded in the ethnographic record and in contemporary concerns and community needs.

Brenda is currently pursuing a PhD in Anthropology through the University of Alberta. Building on her MA research which focussed on exploring multiple perceptions of the wilderness landscapes of northern British Columbia through ethnographic research with Kitsumkalum community members, she is researching the societal impacts that result from threats to the security of land and ocean foods that are essential components to the diets and economies of Indigenous people. 

Brenda’s research interests include:  the maintenance of societal structures in times of environmental stress; ‘on the ground’ impacts of institutional policies that alter access to land and ocean foods; changing economic landscapes; disruptions resulting from the industrialization of the land and resources; and contemporary ethnographies and complexities of community based research in a digital world.   Her research has been supported through various grants including a SSHRC grant. Brenda has a number of publications including a chapter in an edited volume and is a co-author on a recent paper published in American Anthropologist.