Current Graduate Students
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Tina Alexis
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Christy Anderson
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Adele BibaultMA Student My name is Adele Bibault, my pronouns are she/her. I have roots in Lithuania and Germany, I identify with white colonial descent. I took my undergrad degree at the University of Victoria. I completed a double Major in Anthropology (Hons) and Greek and Roman Studies. I wrote my honours thesis with Indian Residential School (IRS) Survivors on the repatriation of their childhood artwork and how it has influenced their lives. I am a first-year Masters student in the Indigenous Studies department. I am writing my thesis on health inequity of rural Indigenous populations with a specific focus on how the westernized biomedical field can change to better incorporate Indigenous holistic health practices and support the rural Indigenous elderly population. My supervisor is Dr. Beatty. |
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Danielle BirdMs. Danielle Bird (Nehiyaw) is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta and has familial ties to the Mistawasis Nehiyawak in West Central Saskatchewan. Education: BA, Great Distinction 2016 Department of Sociology (Major), University of Saskatchewan Department of Indigenous Studies (Minor), University of Saskatchewan MA, Indigenous Studies, 2021 Department of Indigenous Studies (Major) University of Saskatchewan Research Disciplines: Sociology, Indigenous Studies Areas of Research: Crime, Criminalization, Critical Prison Studies, Social Control, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Community Reintegration, Social Exclusion, and Violence against Indigenous Women Contact Information: Department of Indigenous Studies, University of Saskatchewan Kirk Hall, 117 Science Place Saskatoon, SK S7N 5C8 Email: danielle.bird@usask.ca |
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Charmaine ChristiansenMA Student My name is Charmaine Christiansen. I am from Dawson City, Yukon and proudly part of the Tr’ondék Hwëch’in First Nation. On my mothers’ side I am Whiteriver First Nation and honored that my grandfather gifted me with my Northern Tutchone name Tsäw Kézhye which means “gopher hunter”. My grandfather on my dad’s side came from Norway and met my grandma who travelled from Alaska to the Yukon before the borders separated the Hän People. I am grateful to my parents who raised me with our traditional Indigenous practices such as dog mushing, hide tanning, birchbark basket making, sewing, hunting, gathering, and so much more. In April 2020 I graduated from the BA Applied Emphasis Psychology Program at Concordia University Edmonton. Here at USask my goal is to study traditional Indigenous healing practices along side the Western practice of Psychology, which is termed the “Two-Eyed Seeing” approach. As a first-generation graduate student, it is important to me to bring the knowledge I gain back to the Yukon as I see many families including my own struggling to find healing and prosperity from the impact of residential school and colonial assimilation. My research interest includes holism, traditional healing practices, Indigenous governance, Indigenization, decolonization and community-based research. |
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Charleen CotePhD Student My name is Charleen Dionne Cote. I am a proud member of the Keeseekoose Saulteaux Nation and have familial ties on the Little Black Bear First Nation, both located on Treaty Four Territory and homelands of the Métis. I am an Anishinaabe kwe and ascribe each of my strengths to my resilient and resolute female lineage. I am married to my best friend and have one adult son. I am a spiritual person with unwavering faith and am defined by my connection to the land. My favorite things to do include hunting, fishing, camping, cooking, and beading. I completed a Certificate of Indigenous Social Work, a Bachelor of Indigenous Social Work, and a Master of Indigenous Social Work through the First Nations University of Canada. My research focus is the impact of intergenerational trauma on Indigenous People. I have worked in clinical counselling, interpersonal violence and with street populations my entire career and have goals and aspirations of linking trauma with brain development, or lack thereof, resulting in specific behaviors in Indigenous populations. |
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Bishudwy DewanMA Student JuJu (Greetings), I am Bishudwy Dewan. I come from an Indigenous community called 'Chakma' from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. I am currently pursuing my Masters in Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. I am the first member of my family and one of the few of my community who came to North America to pursue higher education. In 2018, I completed my Bachelor of Social Science in International Relations from Jahangirnagar University, in Bangladesh. During my undergrad, I came across an extremely interesting course named 'Theories and Problems of Ethnicity and Nationalism,' where I had the opportunity to introduce myself to colonial and post-colonial theories. These teachings actually opened my eyes and let me think about the decolonization of Indigenous peoples from colonial societies and structures. My research will focus on Indigenous migration. My family has a personal connection with forced migration. In 1962, when my father was 6 years old, along with many peoples, his family had to leave their traditional homeland forever and migrate to India, due to the development of ‘Kaptai’ a hydroelectric dam. In my thesis, I will focus on the diasporic experience of Indigenous peoples who migrated to Canada from Bangladesh in a multicultural society. I will also research on how immigrated Indigenous Peoples in Canada experience and engage with other Indigenous Peoples in Canada. My research interests also include Indigenous and identity politics, decolonization, identify the problems of International Relations theories regarding Indigenous undermination, land-based education, and Indigenous environmental management. |
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Jenny GardipyPhD Student Tanisi. Jenny Gardipy nitisîyihkâson, Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation ohci niya in Treaty 6 Territory. I am a mother of six and grandmother of four. I feel so honoured to be selected as one of the PhD candidates for the Indigenous Studies Department at the University of Saskatchewan. I worked as the Associate Regional Director for the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) and took a year off work to be closer to nikawiy after nohtâwîpan passed away. I joined the federal government in December 2016 as the Director of Business Operations for the FNIHB, Saskatchewan Region in the newly formed department called Indigenous Services Canada (formerly under Health Canada). I proudly graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 2011 with a Master's degree in Public Health. Immediately after obtaining my degrees, I worked with national and local health organizations before becoming the Director of Health for my community. I have always had an interest in working in the health field and strongly believe that Indigenous peoples have the capacity and knowledge to make healthy changes in their communities. I am passionate about taking an active role in helping communities move towards better health outcomes. Nikawiy went blind when I was 13-years old and I have witnessed the lack of health services that many in the disabled community face. Nohtâwîpan survived the Indian Residential School and recently passed away on February 15, 2018. His humble and Nehiyaw ways of being continue to be my foundation. I look forward to learning from the amazing Indigenous Studies faculty and possibly contributing to positive health outcomes of Indigenous peoples. kinanâskomitin |
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Kate GillisMA Student Kate Gillis is Métis from Calgary, Alberta with family roots in the historic Red River Settlement. In the Spring of 2020, Kate completed her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in History, and a minor in Psychology from St. Mary’s University Calgary. Kate is now a masters student in the Indigenous Studies department at the University of Saskatchewan, with her research focussing on early Métis history. As an Indigenous feminist scholar, Kate’s MA work focusses on positioning the role of Métis women within the larger narrative of the Métis ethnogenesis. During the most recent Indigenous Achievement Week she was recognized with an award for academic excellence. Kate is the recipient of the Gabriel Dumont Graduate Scholarship in Métis Studies, and recently accepted a SSHRC CGS-M award. |
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Brady HighwayMA Student Brady Highway is Rocky Cree from the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, and currently lives in Saskatoon (SK) where he is the Resource Management Coordinator for Wanuskewin Heritage Park. He is a Cree translator and from a young age became a well-respected wilderness guide throughout the North. He passes the teachings he received from his late granny, Maggie Highway, onto his two children so that they understand the human role within our environment and the obligation it carries to protect our lands for future generations. Having grown up on the Churchill River, Brady learned how to respectfully interact with the environment and has been working in the field of environmental protection for over 24 years. At the age of 15 he worked as a seasonal wildland firefighter, and subsequently worked in resource conservation at Yoho, Prince Albert and Wapusk National Park’s where he specialized in wildfire management, public safety and human-wildlife conflict. Brady is now working on a Masters of Indigenous Studies, focusing his research on biocultural conservation through the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas to support a large scale grasslands restoration project and the reintroduction of Buffalo to their ancestral home. |
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Michelle HoganPhD Candidate Michelle Hogan is a member of the Batchewana First Nation in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and the single parent of seven children. She has earned an Associate of Science Degree in Computer Science from Camosun College in Victoria, BC. in 2002 and a BA (Honours) in Indigenous Studies from the University of Regina in 2005. She has earned a Master of Arts in Native Studies from the University of Saskatchewan in 2008. Her MA thesis was titled: "They're Tough, These Women!": The Everyday Resistance of Aboriginal Women to Dehumanization by Government Agencies. Michelle is presently a PhD student in Native Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research will be on The Role of Tradition in Aboriginal Health and Wellness. Her research interests include Aboriginal women, cultural constructions of Aboriginality and the potential use of natural sciences in Native Studies. |
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Adriana JuarezMA Student Adriana is a Mestizo settler to Treaty Six, Homeland of the Métis. Adriana has a deep love for political music in all genres, which started at a young age due to her politically active family and attributes this music to guiding her research. Some of her favourite political albums include A Short Story About A War by Shad, ameri’kana by Making Movies, and Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar. She graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 2019 with a Double Honours in Indigenous Studies and Anthropology. She is currently a student in the Masters program at the University of Saskatchewan and will be focusing her research on Latin American Indigenous resistance music and its role as a political movement during the 1960s-1980s, with a specific focus on El Salvador, Chile, and Mexico. Her research interests include understanding historical and contemporary human rights issues, Socialist and Marxist movements, political music, Latinx and Indigenous feminism, and Indigenous concepts of well-being. |
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Lindsay KnightPhD Student Lindsay “Eekwol” Knight is a member of Muskoday First Nation, currently living in Saskatoon, Treaty Six Territory. She is a PhD student in the Indigenous Studies Department and also an award-winning hip hop performing artist. Lindsay recently completed a Canada Council for the Arts granted project titled, For Women By Women that focused on Indigenous women in Hip Hop. Most recently, she received the University of Saskatchewan Aboriginal Graduate Scholarship. |
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Tara MillionPhD Candidate Tara Million is Nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) and is a member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation located within Treaty 6 territory in Alberta, Canada. She is actively involved in undertaking traditional experiential learning centered on the ceremonies and protocols involved with being a pipe carrier. Tara is a doctoral student in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan and is the recipient of a Dean’s Scholarship. Dr. Simon Lambert is her supervisor. Tara’s dissertation focuses on the processes and impacts of organizational Indigenization. Her research interests include Indigenization, public policy development, organizational and workplace culture, change leadership and change management, conflict resolution and HR practices, community-led librarianship, applied and community-based research, Indigenous research methodologies, and paradigm shifting. Her Master’s thesis, “Using Circular Paradigms within an Archaeological Framework: Receiving Gifts from White Buffalo Calf Woman”, was completed in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta and focused on developing an Indigenous archaeology. Her Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) had a management specialization and was conducted entirely on-line in the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University with a culminating e-portfolio. Since 1999, Tara has presented regularly at regional, national, and international conferences, including Chacmool, Congress, American Anthropological Association conference, the World Archaeological Congress, International Indigenous Librarians Forum, and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference, on a variety of archaeological, library science, and Indigenous Studies topics. She has 5 academic publications, primarily in archaeology, including book chapters in Aboriginal Cultural Landscapes (2004), Indigenous Archaeology: Decolonizing Theory and Practice (2005), and Indigenous Archaeologies: A Reader on Decolonization (2010). Tara has worked for 12 years as a public library manager in a variety of locations: Lakeland Library Region and Saskatoon Public Library in Saskatchewan and at the Hinton Municipal Library in Alberta, where she also managed the Coal Branch Archives. During this time, she worked concurrently for 7 years as a sessional instructor at the North West Regional College and for the Dumont Technical Institute delivering a variety of university, college, and adult education courses to rural students in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. She has served as a board member for a variety of local and provincial organizations and has been an Indigenous Steering Committee Member for the World Archaeological Congress (2001-2003). Currently, Tara is the Treasurer for the Library Services for Saskatchewan Aboriginal Peoples committee and represented LSSAP at the 2019 International Indigenous Librarians Forum. |
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Swapna PadmanabhaPhD Candidate Swapna returned to her educational pursuits after a 27 year hiatus and recently graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a four year BA in psychology (Great Distinction). Swapna is particularly interested in working in the area of psychological well-being within marginalized communities. For her thesis project she will be examining contemporizing traditional Aboriginal stories as a method of promoting education for Aboriginal men. She is currently examining the construct of Indigenous male identity in the first phase of her thesis project. |
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Krystl RavenPhD Candidate Krystl Raven, a settler scholar, has spent most of her life on the prairies and returned to school as a single mother after owning a business in Saskatoon for almost a decade. Krystl enjoys animals and has a house filled with three dogs, one cat, and a teenager. When not busy with her school or family, Krystl can be found riding her horse, Cicero. Her SSHRC funded dissertation builds off of her master’s thesis— Beyond the Battle: Gabriel Dumont and Metis leadership 1837-1885— by using Gabriel Dumont as a lens into Métis identity and its connection to homelands, kinship, cultural capital, leadership, and memory. Krystl acknowledges the advice and knowledge that Métis community members have kindly shared with her through the process of researching and writing her dissertation. Krystl’s current research interests include Métis studies, diaspora studies, political activism, leadership, adoption, biography, postcolonial history, decolonization, oral history, and community-engaged scholarship. Krystl currently works as a writing tutor for the writing center and as a sessional for the Department of Indigenous Studies. As a first-generation scholar, she enjoys helping students from a wide variety of backgrounds learn to navigate academia. Publications: Wills, Jeanie, and Krystl Raven. “The Founding Five: Transformational Leadership in the New York League of Advertising Women’s Club, 1912–1926.” Journal of Historical Research in Marketing ahead-of-print, no. ahead-of-print (May 20, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1108/JHRM-04-2019-0015. Raven, Krystl. “Ka Oopikihtamashook’: Becoming Family.” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 14, no. 4 (2018): 319–325. https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180118821170. Raven, Krystl. “‘Homeland and Empires: Indigenous Spaces, Imperial Fictions and Competition for Territory in Northeastern North America 1690-1763’ by Jeffers Lennox-Review.” Journal of History and Cultures, no. 9 (February 2019): 117–19. Selected Conference presentations:
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Anna SchneiderPhD Candidate E-mail: ans295@mail.usask.ca Anna is an international Doctoral student from Siegen, Germany. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Anglophone Studies at the University of Marburg in 2013 and graduated with a Master of Arts in North American Studies in 2016. During her master's program, Anna visited the University of Saskatchewan in the fall of 2014 as part of an exchange program between the University of Marburg and the U of S. She was given the opportunity to take Theoretical Issues in Native Studies, aiming to receive a first insight into the discipline of Indigenous Studies, which is largely missing from German and generally European university curricula. Her thesis contextualized histories of genocide in Germany and North America and how these histories have informed different discourses of guilt, identity, and reconciliation in present-day perpetrator societies, especially after WWII. Her doctoral research will tie in with these findings and explore more about German-European, as well as North American discourses of Indigenous colonial history and genocide. |
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Jacqueline SmithMA Student Jacqueline is from Opaskwayak Cree Nation and The Pas, Manitoba located in Treaty 5 territory. After completing the first year of her undergrad at the University College of the North in The Pas, she transferred to Dalhousie University in the fall of 2012. In 2016 she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in French and History, with a minor in Canadian Studies. Her undergraduate degree provided her with the opportunity to study in different geographic contexts including France, Northern Ireland, and Nunavut. During her undergrad, she also held many executive positions in societies including President of the Dalhousie Canadian Studies Society, Co-President of the Dalhousie Native Student Association, and Vice-President of the Northern Ireland Dialogue for Peace Society. She is now completing her Master of Arts degree in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research interests include residential schools and the intergenerational effects of residential schools. In her thesis project, she hopes to look at the connection between residential schools in Manitoba and the province’s high rate of Indigenous children in foster care. |
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Elle Sina Raanes SørensenMA Student Bures, mu namma lea Elle Sina Raanes Sørensen ja mun lean Romssas eret. I am Indigenous to Sápmi that stretches across the borders of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia in Northern Europe, born on the Norwegian side of the borders. My Sámi roots come from a line of Lofoten sea Sámis. One of them, my great-grandfather, found his way to Canada during the great depression, thus entangling my Sámi roots with my Canadian roots as their stories intertwined. Only when my mother was young did my family find their way back to Sápmi, to our homelands, where I was raised. Spring 2020 I completed two bachelor of Arts degrees, in Anthropology and Global Studies with a concentration in Development and Social Justice, and a minor in Native American and Indigenous Studies at Pacific Lutheran University in the US. Both theses were focused on the consequences of development projects on Indigenous land, specifically on the Trans Mountain Pipeline, Coastal GasLink, and the Alta case. I am an MA student in Indigenous Studies. My research will look at master students’ experiences within Indigenous Studies in a comparative context between Norway and Canada to understand how the discipline functions in post-secondary institutions and if it is meeting the expectations of students entering the programs. I will be focusing on alumni, looking at their initial expectations and general experiences in relation to the goals, curriculums, structures, and histories of the programs. Some of my other research interests include Indigenous (Sámi) identity politics, Indigenous feminisms, and impacts of Indigenous land and resource exploitation. |
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Mylan TootoosisPhD Student Mylan Tootoosis is Nêhiyawpwat (Plains Cree-Nakota) from Poundmaker Indian Reserve located within Treaty Six Territory. He is currently a Doctoral Student in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. He completed his Masters of Arts in Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria in British Columbia in 2013 and obtained his Bachelors of Arts in Indigenous Liberal Studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His work concentrates on the Political Ecology of Contemporary Indigenous Prairie Livelihood and Decolonization. |
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Brittany TuffsMA Student Brittany Tuffs is a member of the Kaska First Nation from Ross River, Yukon. Her Kaska upbringing fueled her motivation to attend post-secondary. She obtained a Certificate in Heritage and Culture, Diploma in Northern First Nation Studies from Yukon College and an Honours Undergraduate Degree in Anthropology at the University of British Columbia where her studies focused on the Kaska and law. Her academic interests include the following: Indigenous law, decolonization, revitalization. self-determination, sovereignty, non-western worldviews, ontology, land claims/treaty, land as legal pedagogy, land, law, power and authority and northern development. It is for her people, for the Kaska, for her community that she carries out her master’s degree in Indigenous Studies from the University of Saskatchewan. |
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Dewi Naura VergustinaPhD Student Dewi Naura Vergustina is a Fulbright alumnus from Indonesia. She is also an active member of the USA for UN. Naura is a generation of Indonesian Indigenous people, "Javanese," who established a Green generation Indonesia Community. Naura is a doctoral student in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan and recipient of a dean’s scholarship. Naura’s research interests include Indigenous land-based healing, Indigenous Community Engagement, Urban Governance Policy, Indigenous Sustainability Education, Indonesia Indigenous Permaculture, Indigenous Education, Indigenous Local Governance. During her master’s study in the US, she has written a thesis project that focuses on decolonizing education in Indonesia by connecting Pancasila (Indonesia Indigenous Wisdom) and Indigenous Science of Permaculture. She did projects to educate Indigenous community especially women in West Africa about Sustainability Education in 2018. Naura has worked for ten years at the Department of Education of Balikpapan city, Borneo island. From this work, she did several sustainability education projects while she got first-hand experience working with the Indigenous community in Borneo island. Moreover, she established a non-profit in Indonesia, “The Kampong Borneo Foundation.” Through holistic approaches such as balancing economic, social, and environmental aspects at various levels of stakeholders, the non-profit has a mission to build community resilience to improve indigenous community welfare for sustainable living by means of supporting the regenerative systems. She is working on a four-year research project in designing a project for a new capital of Indonesia, a collaboration between RISTEK-BRIN (Indonesia Research Center) and NWO (Netherland Research Center). In this project, she integrates Indigenous Wisdom of Borneo into Urban Governance for the Circular Region (Element of change: Building Skills for resiliencies in Borneo). |
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Sarah WernerMA Student Sarah Werner is a settler born and raised in the Williams Treaty territory (Southern Ontario) with family ties to both the East Coast of Canada and Germany. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) from Trent University with a double major in Indigenous Studies and Anthropology. Sarah is currently enrolled in the Master of Arts, Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, her M.A. research focuses on decolonizing the human-animal bond, specifically in therapy animal contexts. |
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Michelle ZinckMA Student Michelle Zinck is Dënë from Fond Du Lac Dënësułinë First Nation, located in the Treaty 8 Territory of northern Saskatchewan. Michelle is master's student in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research is centered on community engagement and the co-development of meaningful initiatives to address the health effects from colonially induced environmental changes in her community and globally. Michelle's research interests include Indigenous health, land and health, community-engagement, land-based healing, traditional knowledge, and Indigenous food sovereignty. |
