For more information, connect with the Aboriginal Studies Home Page at the Faculty of Arts and Science.
Deborah McGregor
Aboriginal Studies/Centre for Aboriginal Initiatives, Interim Director
North Borden Building, 2nd Floor
563 Spadina Ave., Room 220
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON M5S 2J7
416-978-2234
director.aboriginal@utoronto.ca
Jennifer Murrin
Aboriginal Studies, Administrative Assistant
North Borden Building, 2nd Floor
563 Spadina Ave., Room 219
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON M5S 2J7
416-978-2233
aboriginal.studies@utoronto.caFACULTY 2011-2012
The core faculty of the Aboriginal Studies Program includes instructors from a variety of disciplines and First Nations backgrounds. They offer insight into many historical and contemporary First Nations issues from both a culturally specific and nation-wide perspective.David Burman
Jill Carter
Alana Johns
Daniel Heath Justice
Lee Maracle
Rauna Kuokkanen
Deborah McGregor
Alex McKay
Erica Neegan
Cheryl Suzack
Victoria FreemanDAVID BURMAN is a graduate of the Faculty of Dentistry and PhD from the Faculty of Medicine at U of T. He has spent several years working in Cree communities along the coast of James Bay. His interests include indigenous environmental issues, spirituality, and the social determinants of health. He also teaches health promotion at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine and communications in the Faculty of Dentistry.
JILL CARTER is Anishnabe. She is a Ph.D. in the Drama Centre at the University of Toronto. She is an actor, a writer, a playwright, a student, and a mentor. She teaches a course in North American Indigenous Theatre every other summer.
VICTORIA FREEMAN is the author of Distant Relations: How My Ancestors Colonized North America and has a PhD in History from the University of Toronto. She co-teaches ABS 360 The Politics and Process of Reconciliation with Lee Maracle and is Coordinating Director of the University of Toronto Initiative on Indigenous Governance, based at the Centre for Aboriginal Initiatives.
ALANA JOHNS, an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics, has been involved with work on the Inuktitut language for many years. She does research on grammatical properties of Inuktitut and dialect variation. She has also taught linguistics and language teaching courses to Inuit studying to be language teachers.
DANIEL HEATH JUSTICE is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, associate professor of Aboriginal literatures in the Department of English, and an affiliate faculty member of the Aboriginal Studies program. He lives on the southern edge of Georgian Bay, in the traditional homelands of the Huron-Wendat nation. He teaches ABS300--Worldview, Indigenous Knowledge, and Oral Tradition--every other year for ABS. Daniel is the author of OUR FIRE SURVIVES THE STORM: A CHEROKEE LITERARY HISTORY (University of Minnesota Press, 2005) and the Indigenous fantasy trilogy, The Way of Thorn and Thunder (all volumes published by Kegedonce Press), as well as numerous essays on Indigenous literary studies. For more information, go to www.danielheathjustice.com.
RAUNA KUOKKANEN is an Assistant Professor in Political Science and Aboriginal Studies. She is a Sami from the Finnish side of Deatnu (Tana) River. She is the author of "Reshaping the University: Responsibility, Indigenous Epistemes and the Logic of the Gift" (UBC Press, 2007) and editor of the anthology on contemporary Sami literature "Juoga mii geasuha" (Davvi Girji 2001). She has long been involved in the public life of Sami society. Her current research interests include political economy of Indigenous women and autonomy, Indigenous feminisms and Indigenous philosophy.
LEE MARACLE is a Sto:Loh nation, grandmother of four, mother of four was born in North Vancouver, BC and now resides in Innisfil, Ontario. Her works include: the novels, Ravensong, Bobbi Lee, Sundogs, short story collection, Sojourner's Truth, poetry collection, Bentbox, and non-fiction work I Am Woman. She is Co-editor of My Home As I Remember and Telling It: Women and Language Across Cultures, editor of a number of poetry works, Gatherings journals and has published in dozens of anthologies in Canada and America. Ms. Maracle is a both an award winning author and teacher. She currently is Mentor for Aboriginal Students at University of Toronto where she also is a teacher and also the Traditional Cultural Director for the Indigenous Theatre School, where she is a part-time cultural instructor.
DEBORAH MCGREGOR is an Assistant Professor in Aboriginal Studies and Geography. She is an Anishnabe from Wiigwaskingaa (Whitefish River First Nation, Birch Island, Ontario). She is an educator and trainer at both the university and community levels. Her focus is on Indigenous knowledge in relation to the environment. She is also an environmental consultant for various Ontario First Nations organizations.
ALEX MCKAY is a Lecturer with a full-time appointment in Aboriginal Studies, and has been with the program since its inception. He is Anishnabe from northern Ontario. He is in charge of the Ojibwa language program, and he teaches courses in Language and Culture, Aboriginal Teaching and Legends, and the Indian Act. He has recently been involved in a research project in which he has collected autobiographies from elder women in the northern Ontario community that he comes from. These are being transcribed, and will be used as material in the Ojibwa class in the future.
ERICA NEEGAN instructs ABS250F, ABS302F, ABS352S, ABS403S and indep.course- Native Relations this year. Her academic interest includes; Indigenous and Aboriginal Studies, antiracist and decolonizing education, critical pedagogy and spirituality. She has worked in various community organizations in the Toronto area. Neegan enjoys teaching in the Aboriginal Studies dept and has a son.
CHERYL SUZACK (Batchewana First Nation) is an assistant professor cross-appointed to English and Aboriginal Studies. Before coming to the University of Toronto, she taught at the University of Alberta and the University of Victoria. Her research and teaching interests include indigenous literatures, law and literature, indigenous feminism, feminist theory, postcolonial theory, and legal writing. She has published research on indigenous women writers from Canada and the United States and co-edited the essay collection Indigenous Women and Feminism: Politics, Activism, Culture (UBC Press 2010).
OTHER FRIENDS OF THE ABORIGINAL STUDIES:
PROF. DARLENE JOHNSON- Faculty of Law
ASSISTANT PROF. JEAN-PAUL RESTOULE- Adult Eduction, OISE
PROF. CELIA CAIN- Faculty of Music
PROF. KEREN RICE - Faculty of Linguistics/Director for the Centre for Aboriginal Initiatives
ASSISTANT PROF. SUZANNE STEWART- Counselling Psychology, OISE
ASSISTANT PROF. MARTIN CANNON- SESE, OISE
WHAT CAN I DO WITH a SPECIALIST, MAJOR or MINOR in ABORIGINAL STUDIES?
A Major or Minor in Aboriginal Studies can be combined with any other subject offered in the Faculty of Arts and Science. For instance, combinations with anthropology, political science and sociology would benefit those with career aspirations in archaeology, politics, government and teaching.
The Specialist Program offers the opportunity for study of Aboriginal issues in greater depth, with research forming an important component of the program.
Knowledge of Aboriginal culture, history and language would be an asset for those studying history, geography and linguistics. Aboriginal Studies also provides a good background for those who have an interest in learning about their own language and culture.