Dr Nancy Wachowich

Dr Nancy Wachowich
Dr Nancy Wachowich
Dr Nancy Wachowich

BA, MA, PhD

Senior Lecturer

About
Email Address
n.wachowich@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 273203
Office Address

G03, Edward Wright Building, Dunbar Street, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, AB243QY

School/Department
School of Social Science

Biography

I am a social anthropologist conducting ethnographic research primarily in the Canadian High Arctic and drawing on fields of historical anthropology, visual anthropology, oral histories, museums and material culture and the anthropology of food. I have written on the history of colonialism, the interplay between western and indigenous knowledge systems, historiography, Inuit media, and on the construction and invocation of traditions. My first book, Saqiyuq: Stories from the Lives of Three Inuit Women was written in collaboration with Apphia Agalakti Awa, Rhoda Kaukjak Katsak and Sandra Pikujaq Katsak and documented Inuit colonial history through the autobiographical stories of three generations from the same family. I continue have an interest in colonial historiography, autobiography, collaborative methodologies, and the politics and ethics of representation. 

I enjoy collaboration with academic and non-academic partners. From 2014-2022 I was Co-Investigator on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) collaborative project entitled Mobilising Inuit Cultural Heritage http://mich.info.yorku.ca/ working with Inuit seamstresses and media-makers in Mittimatalik co-founding a women’s sealskin sewing co-op The Mittimatalik Arnait Miqsuqtuit Collective (MAMC) and creating a community digital visual archive of Inuit seal skin sewing arts and skills (https://vimeo.com/mamc).  https://arnaitmiqsuqtuit.wixsite.com/mamc  

Since 2019 I have been the UK PI on a UKRI/Polar funded project 'Inuksiutit: Food Sovereignty in Nunavut & the Co-production of Country Food Knowledge' addressing Inuit food sovereignty and Elders/youth advocacy in Inuit Nunangat in the context of climate change. https://www.cinuk.org/projects/ifsnu/

I welcome postgraduate student supervision in themes around: anthropology of food, materiality, creativity and the arts, visual and historical anthropology, collaborative decolonizing methodologies, environmental justice and other topics. 

Qualifications

  • PhD Social Anthropology 
    2001 - University of British Columbia, Canada 
  • MA Symbolic Anthropology 
    1992 - University of Western Ontario, Canada 
  • BA Anthropology 
    1989 - University of Alberta, Canada 

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

Department of Anthropology PhD Programme Coordinator

External Memberships

Faculty and Steering Committee Member, International PhD School for the Study of Arctic Societies (IPSSAS)

External Examiner, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge (2006-2009)

External Examiner, MA Visual Cultures, MRes Visual Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of London (2019-2022)

Prizes and Awards

Oral History Association (USA), Award for Best Project,  2000

Canadian Historical Society Clio Award for the North, 2000

Research

Research Overview

arctic anthropology, ethnohistory, oral traditions, museums and material culture, visual anthropology, anthropology of colonialism, anthropology of art, indigenous media, collaborative methodologies, anthropology of food 

Research Specialisms

  • Social Anthropology

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Current Research

Inuit oral traditions, material culture, historical anthropology, digital archiving, collaborative methodologies, media anthropology, visual anthropology, cultural heritage, anthropology of art, anthropology of food 

Collaborations

Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage (MICH): a multi-media, multi-platform re-engagement of voice in visual arts and performance, York University, Canada

Mittimatalik Arnait Miqsuqtuit Collective: a women’s seal skin sewing and digital archiving collective based in the Inuit community of Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet), Nunavut Canada.  See: https://vimeo.com/mamc.  https://arnaitmiqsuqtuit.wixsite.com/mamc

I am currently Co-PI (with Prof Anna Hudson, York University Canada) on a collaborative POLAR/UKRI funded project 'Inuksiutit: Food Sovereignty in Nunavut and the Co-production of Country Food Knowledge' addressing Inuit food security and Elders/youth advocacy in the context of climate change.  

Supervision

Current students:

Qingyang Li,  Doctorate.  Dissertation topic:  dance and NGOs in a Chinese village 

Marie Saunders, Doctorate, Dissertation topic:  Trinidadian historiographies 

Ursula Obrusnik, Doctorate, Thesis topic: The politics of belonging in a Czech-Polish border town. 

Former students:

Peter Lawrence Bates, Doctorate, Thesis title: Knowing caribou: Inuit, ecological science and traditional ecological knowledge in the Canadian Arctic. 

Sophie Caecilie Elixhauser, Doctorate, Thesis title: Nammeq: Personal autonomy and everyday communication in East Greenland

Hiroko Ikuta, Doctorate, Thesis title: Sociality of Dance: Eskimo Dance among Yupiget on St. Lawrence Island and Iñupiat in Barrow, Alaska

Irena Leisbet Connon, Doctorate, Thesis title: Oral narratives and the reaffirmation of native Alutiiq identity

Lidia Joanna Jendzjowsky, Masters of Philosphy, Dissertation Title: Photographs of landscape and indigenous peoples along the Skeena River, Canada

Amber Anne Lincoln, Doctorate, Thesis title: Things of use, things of life: coordinating lives through material practices in Northwest Alaska

Katrin Annemarie Simon-Sakurai, Doctorate, Thesis title:  Never alone: Narratives of spirits in an Alaskan Yup’ik community

Anna C MacLennan, Masters of Research, Dissertation title:  Layers in the Cold: the potential of an anthropological study of Inuit skin clothing

Martina Anne Tyrrell, Doctorate, Thesis title: Inuit perception, knowledge and use of the sea in Arviat, Nunavut

Silvije Habulinec, Masters of Research, Dissertation Title: Material histories of Military Sites in Kangirlussuaq, Greenland, 2015. 

Ursual Obrusnik, Masters of Research, Dissertation title: Urban Aboriginal media in Winnipeg, Canada, 2015.

Zoe Todd, Doctorate, Thesis title: ‘You Never Go Hungry’: Fish pluralities, human-fish relationships, Indigenous legal orders and colonialism in Paulatuuq, Canada.

Tara Joly, Doctorate, Thesis title: The Social Life of Wetlands: wetland reclamation in the western subarctic of Canada, 2017

Frederique Manceau, Masters of Research, Dissertation topic:  The lingerie industry and lace craftsmanship in France. 

Tamara Ranspot, Doctorate, Thesis topic: Ethnomusicology and animal-human relationships in the Yukon, Canada, 2019

Gioia Barnbrook, Doctorate, Thesis title: Continuing the Hunt: Environmental Change, Ecological Knowledge and Provision in Wemindji, Northern Quebec. 2019

Kirsty Kernohan, Doctorate, Thesis title: Leisured Colonialism: objects, archives and family ties in the Keith- Falconer collection at the University of Aberdeen 1873-1945.  2021. 

Funding and Grants

Skin sewing segment of  'Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage: a multi/media platform re-engagment of voice in visual art and performance,  Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Anna Hudson, York University, PI

'Inuit video art', British Academy Small Grant, 2004-2008 

'Material Histories: Social Relationships between Scots and Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Fur Trade , c. 1870-1930',  Art and Humanities Research Council, 2005-2007,  (with Professor Tim Ingold and Dr. Alison Brown)

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Anthropology 1003, Introduction to Anthropology, Peoples of the World

Anthropology 5032, Research in Social Anthropology I

Anthropology 2511, Colonialism Re-imagined

Anthropology 3523, Ethnography 

Anthropology 3006, Methods in Anthropological Research

Anthropology 4522, Oral Traditions

Anthropology 4528 Anthropology of the North (subsistence hunting module)

Anthropology 4010, Indigenous Media

Anthropology 3018, Society and Nature (animal rights module)

Anthropology 5534: Methods training (evidence module) 

School of Social Science Postgraduate Training 5055,  (Academic writing skills module)

Publications

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  • Cultural Survival and Trade in Iglulingmiut Traditions

    Wachowich, N.
    Critical Inuit Studies. Stevenson, L., Stern, P. (eds.). University of Nebraska Press, pp. 119-138, 17 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Ataguttaaluk

    Wachowich, N.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
  • Qitdlarssuaq (Qitdlak)

    Wachowich, N.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
  • Taqulittuq (Tookoolito, Hannah) and Ipirvik (Ebierbing Joe)

    Wachowich, N.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
  • Tulugajuak, Peter

    Wachowich, N.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
  • An overview of Iglulingmiut and Mittimatalingmiut Culture and History

    Wachowich, N.
    Isuma Inuit Studies Reader. Robinson, G. (ed.). Isuma Publishing, pp. 131-136, 5 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Interview with Paul Apak Angilirq

    Wachowich, N.
    Atanarjuat: the fast runner. Apak Angilirq, P., Cohn, N., Saladin d'Anglure, B. (eds.). Coach House Books and Isuma Publishing
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • Review of Hunting Tradition in a Changing World: Yup'ik Lives in Alaska Today

    Wachowich, N.
    Polar Record, vol. 38, no. 207, pp. 367-368
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
  • Saqiyuq: Stories from the Lives of Three Inuit Women

    Wachowich, N.
    McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal, Canada. 301 pages
    Books and Reports: Books
  • Exhibiting Knowledge: Videoconferencing, the Arctic Odyssey and the Canadian Museum of Nature

    Wachowich, N.
    Aboriginal Environmental Knowledge in the North. Dorais, L., Nagy, M. (eds.). Gétic, Université Laval, pp. 81-94, 13 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
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