Dr Nancy Wachowich

Biography

I am a social anthropologist working at the University of Aberdeen since 2001. My ethnographic research is located mostly in the Canadian High Arctic and draws on fields of historical anthropology, visual anthropology, oral histories, museums and material culture and more recently 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 (worked on before and during my PhD) was part of a collaboration with Apphia Agalakti Awa, Rhoda Kaukjak Katsak and Sandra Pikujaq Katsak. Entitled Saqiyuq: Stories from the Lives of Three Inuit Women (McGill Queens University Press,1999) it 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. My current research explores Inuit food country food systems and food sovereignty, Inuit advocacy and media-making, community digital archiving, Inuit skin sewing and other forms of creative expression. 

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 digital visual archive of seal skin sewing arts and skills (https://vimeo.com/mamc).

I am currently Co-PI 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. 

Prizes and Awards

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

Canadian Historical Society Clio Award for the North, 2000

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 

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.  

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 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)