Keith Thor Carlson

I am a Professor of History at the University of Saskatchewan where I hold the Research Chair in Indigenous and Community-Engaged History. I consider myself first and foremost an ethnohistorian. My scholarship is designed and conducted in partnership with communities and aspires to answer questions that are of relevance to those communities. I am interested in both indigenous history and indigenous historical consciousness. What intrigues me most is not the weighing of cultural continuity against colonial-induced change but in assessing the process of change within structures of continuity and the forces of continuity within systems of change. I focus on the history of the Coast Salish of British Columbia but am also building relationships with Aboriginal communities in Washington State and Saskatchewan, and in the past I have worked extensively with Hukbalahap veterans in the Philippines.

I was born and raised in the coastal industrial town of Powell River, BC, and was the first of my family to attend university. After completing my master’s degree I was employed as historian and research coordinator by the Stó:lõ Nation in the Fraser Valley BC where I worked from 1992 to 2001. While completing my PhD I took up a position in the history department at the University of Saskatchewan. I recently served as the UofS Special Advisor on Outreach and Community-Engagement, and as Director of the university's Interdisciplinary Centre for Culture and Creativity. I recently established Canada’s first and only Community-Engaged History Collaboratorium where students are provided paid summer internships to work with with Indigenous communities and cultural/heritage organizations conducting original research on projects the communities have identified. I am also the President of the Saskatchewan History & Folklore Society.

When I’m not researching or teaching I can be found spending time with my wife, sons, and friends, whittling, fishing, or strumming on my guitar.