Current Faculty
Alice Te Punga Somerville
Alice Te Punga Somerville
Professor
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous StudiesProfessor Te Punga Somerville (Māori – Te Āti Awa, Taranaki) is a scholar, poet and irredentist. At its heart, her research and teaching engage texts to de-centre colonialism by centering Indigenous expansiveness. Her MA (Auckland) and PhD (Cornell) focused on Māori written literatures. As she sought broader contexts for thinking about the writing of her own community, she developed a twin interest and expertise in Indigenous studies and Pacific studies....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous Studies
Aynur Kadir
Aynur Kadir
Assistant Professor
emailakadir@mail.ubc.ca
location_onCK Choi 178
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languagesسالام
Aynur Kadir is an Indigenous Uyghur scholar, filmmaker and curator with a research focus on the documentation, conservation and revitalization of Indigenous cultures and languages. Her work bridges the gap between Indigenous studies in Canada and in Asia. Her research interests are in global indigeneity from the Uyghur in China to Coast Salish and Six Nations in Canada; transnational Indigenous diplomacy; and the safeguarding and revitalization of languages and cultural heritage through digital technology and collaborative initiatives....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages
Bernard Perley
Bernard Perley
Professor
location_onMary Bollert Hall Room 119
Bernard C. Perley is Maliseet from Tobique First Nation, New Brunswick. He holds Bachelor of Fine Arts (studio arts) and Master of Architecture (architectural design) degrees from the University of Texas, Austin. His PhD is in Social Anthropology from Harvard. His academic training is interdisciplinary and aims to transcend disciplinary boundaries to serve his commitment to Indigenous community-based research and advocacy....Read more
Candace Galla
Candace Galla
Associate Professor - Language & Literacy Education (Faculty of Education) & Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies (Faculty of Arts)
emailcandace.galla@ubc.ca
phone604 822 9065
location_onPonderosa Commons 3125
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered LanguagesCandace Kaleimamoowahinekapu Galla (Kanaka Maoli) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education (Faculty of Education) and in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies (Faculty of Arts) at the University of British Columbia. She has taught a variety of courses that focus on Indigenous language revitalization that have included materials development, performative arts, and an international collaboration with eight post-secondary institutions....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages
Candis Callison
Candis Callison
Professor
phone604 822 9792
location_onLiu Institute 209
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous StudiesCandis Callison is Tahltan and a Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. She is the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Journalism, Media, and Public Discourse at UBC.
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous Studies
Daisy Rosenblum
Daisy Rosenblum
Assistant Professor
phone604 827 0797
location_onBuchanan E 161
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered LanguagesDaisy Rosenblum is an Assistant Professor in the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program and the Department of Anthropology. She specializes in the 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....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages
Daniel Justice
Daniel Justice
Professor
phonephone 604 827 5176
location_onBuchanan E258
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous StudiesOsiyo/ᎣᏏᏲ
Daniel Heath Justice is a Colorado-born citizen of the Cherokee Nation/ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture at UBC, and is a specialist in Indigenous literary studies. His most recent book is Why Indigenous Literatures Matter (2018). Daniel’s scholarly and creative work focuses on questions of other-than-human kinship, Indigenous belonging, and imaginative sovereignty....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous Studies
David Gaertner
David Gaertner
Associate Professor
phonephone 604 822 9624
location_onBuchanan E-175
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous StudiesDavid Gaertner is a settler scholar of German descent. He specializes in new media and critical technology studies. He is an Associate Editor of BC Studies and a Green College Leading Scholar. His most recent book, The Theatre of Regret: Troubling Reconciliation in Canada, is forthcoming from UBC Press in 2020....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous Studies
Dory Nason
Dory Nason
Associate Professor of Teaching
emaildory.nason@ubc.ca
phonephone 604 827 5688
location_onBuchanan E-261
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous StudiesDory Nason joined the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program in August 2008. Dory comes by way of the University of California's Ethnic Studies Department at Berkeley. Specializing in Indigenous feminism and literature, Dory holds a joint position with the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous Studies
Elder Larry Grant
Elder Larry Grant
Adjunct Professor, First Nations and Endangered Languages Program | Consultant, Musqueam Language and Culture Department
phone604 263-3261
location_onBuchanan E260
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered LanguagesElder Larry Grant from the Musqueam Nation is an Adjunct Professor in the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program, in which he co-teaches the introductory hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (Central Coast Salish) course. He is also Elder-in-Residence at the First Nations House of Learning and Consultant for the Musqueam Language and Culture Department....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages
Fiona Campbell
Fiona Campbell
Sessional Lecturer
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered LanguagesFiona Campbell is a PhD candidate in Linguistics at McGill University and a Sessional Lecturer with the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program. Fiona has been involved with the FNEL program since 1998 as a student, and then in subsequent years as a course co-instructor, curriculum developer,...Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages
Glen Coulthard
Glen Coulthard
CIS Director & Associate Professor
emailcis.director@ubc.ca
phone604 827 5178
location_onBuchanan E-264
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous StudiesGlen Coulthard is Yellowknives Dene and an associate professor in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program and the Departments of Political Science at the University of British Columbia.
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous Studies
Grace Point
Grace Point
Early Primary Language Education Liaison, Musqueam Language and Culture Department
location_onBuchanan E260
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered LanguagesGrace Point is a Musqueam Band Member and has studied hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ formally through the UBC FNEL Program. She has developed a solid understanding of the language and has excellent speaking skills. Grace embraces Musqueam’s rich heritage and fishes the same Fraser River that her father and...Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages
Jill Campbell
Jill Campbell
Coordinator, Musqueam Language and Culture Department
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered LanguagesIn her role as Coordinator for the Musqueam Language and Culture Department (2007-present), Jill works closely with the MIB Language and Culture team, and with UBC’s First Nations and Endangered Languages Program (FNEL) to develop programing and resource materials that support and enhance hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language revitalization....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages
ON LEAVE
1 July 2024 - 30 June 2025
Mark Turin
Mark Turin
ON LEAVE
1 July 2024 - 30 June 2025
Associate Professor
emailmark.turin@ubc.ca
phone604 827 0613
location_onBuchanan E 156
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered LanguagesMark Turin is an Associate Professor, cross-appointed between the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Department of Anthropology. From 2014-2018, Dr. Turin served as Chair of the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program and from 2016-2018, as Acting Co-Director of the University’s new Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies. His work focuses on language endangerment and revitalization. He writes and teaches on ethnolinguistics, decolonial methodologies, digital archives and cultural heritage....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages
Pasang Yangjee Sherpa
Pasang Yangjee Sherpa
Assistant Professor
emailpasang.sherpa@ubc.ca
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered LanguagesPasang Sherpa is a Sharwa anthropologist from Pharak, the southern part of Mt. Everest region in northeastern Nepal. Her research, writing and pedagogy focuses on climate change and Indigeneity among Himalayan communities, guided by the question: How do we live in the midst of dying? Currently, she is working on a project titled Transnational Sherpas which examines cultural appropriation, representation, migration history, and the role of matriarchs in Sherpa society. Another ongoing project of hers seeks just pathways for sustainable futures in the Anthropocene with geographers Ritodhi Chakraborty and Costanza Rampini....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages
Tricia Logan
Tricia Logan
Assistant Professor
emailtricia.logan@ubc.ca
location_onBuchanan E 271
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous StudiesTaanshi kiyawow
Tricia is a Métis scholar with more than 20 years of experience working with Indigenous communities in Canada. She has a PhD in History, specializing on settler colonial genocide and residential schools in Canada. Over the last 20 years, Tricia has worked with Survivors of residential schools, compiled research on the Métis experience in residential schools, and worked with Métis communities on a Michif language revitalization project....Read more
Tricia is a Métis scholar with more than 20 years of experience working with Indigenous communities in Canada. She has a PhD in History, specializing on settler colonial genocide and residential schools in Canada. Over the last 20 years, Tricia has worked with Survivors of residential schools, compiled research on the Métis experience in residential schools, and worked with Métis communities on a Michif language revitalization project....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous StudiesEmeriti
Linc Kesler
Linc Kesler (PhD – University of Toronto) has been with First Nations and Indigenous Studies since 2003 when he came to UBC as the first Chair of the program. He designed and taught the initial versions FNIS 310, 320 and 400.
Program Area
First Nations and Indigenous Studies
Patricia A. Shaw
Patricia A. Shaw
Professor Emerita | Founding Chair, First Nations and Endangered Languages Program
phone604 822 6481
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered LanguagesPatricia A. Shaw is the Founding Chair (1996-2014) of the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program, and Professor of Anthropological Linguistics with particular interests in sound systems; the interface of phonology with phonetics and morphology; literacy and oral traditions; language contact and change....Read more
Program Area
First Nations and Endangered Languages