Excited to announce that I have joined Willow Springs Strategic Solutions, Inc., a social science and environmental consulting firm, in the capacity of Research Director. I will be assisting Indigenous communities to plan and conduct community-based research projects, environmental monitoring and research, land use mapping studies, and oral history and ethnographic research.
Hereward Longley, Carmen Wells, Jenny Gerbrandt and I recently published a paper in The Extractive Industries and Society journal. Title: Ethnographic refusal in traditional land use mapping: Consultation, impact assessment, and sovereignty in the Athabasca oil sands region Abstract: Traditional land use (TLU) mapping is a key mechanism for Indigenous communities to defend their land use … More New Paper Published
After the American Anthropological Association conference last year in Minneapolis, I wrote a short essay for American Ethnologist reflecting on Standing Rock and the role of anthropologists in Indigenous refusals of resource development. I attend to the implications of a panel of water protectors hosted by the AES and consider what it means to “stand … More “It’s a Feeling, Not a Theory”
I am happy to announce that my PhD thesis has been finalized and is available (open-access) through the University of Aberdeen library and my academia.edu page for download. Title: Making Productive Land: Utility, encounter, and oil sands reclamation in northeastern Alberta, Canada Abstract: This thesis is a landscape ethnography examining conflicting epistemologies and land use values … More Thesis Published
I recently wrote a piece for the Anthropology and Environment Society Engagement Blog based on some of my doctoral research: “Settler colonial relations construct the Athabasca region as extractive oil sands territory, yet the region remains homeland for Indigenous peoples, including Métis individuals. In my doctoral research, I argue that oil sands reclamation – the … More Reclaiming Nature? Indigenous Homeland and Oil Sands Territory
A wonderfully articulated piece by Zoe Todd on the curious case of the ontological turn, from an indigenous feminist perspective. Could not agree more that we must continue to look to our indigenous scholars, friends and mentors first and foremost, and recognise many of these theoretical leanings as representative of indigenous teachings – despite lack … More An Indigenous Feminist’s take on the Ontological Turn: ‘ontology’ is just another word for colonialism
I wrote this piece one week after my arrival in Fort McMurray in July 2013. Posted unedited here to maintain the spirit in which it was written. The three of us, the reclamation manager, the trainee, and myself, drive in a white company 4 by 4 down the road along the edge of the site that … More Overburden
Tara L. Joly, PhD 