Congratulations to Dr. Kristen Barnett on being named Canadian Research Chair (CRC) in Indigenous Archaeology.
The Canada Research Chairs Program enables Canadian universities to achieve the highest levels of research excellence and become world-class research centres. Chairholders improve our depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthen Canada’s international competitiveness, and help train the next generation of highly skilled people through student supervision, teaching and the coordination of other researchers’ work.
Dr. Barnett is an emerging world-class scholar and researcher in Indigenous archaeology. With an outstanding record that pushes the boundaries of the discipline, she advocates for incorporating new ethics of practice that align with the values and identities of Indigenous Peoples. Dr. Barnett’s upcoming research emphasizes her role as a visionary, integrating Indigenous Futurity (IF) with archaeology and remaking the discipline to have a deeper commitment to the future and Indigenous Peoples through four guiding principles: relationality, respect, reciprocity, and rematriation/repatriation/reparation.
Through reciprocal collaboration, this research program transforms the understandings of rematriation/repatriation, including expanding what qualifies for return, extending beyond ancestor remains and “artifacts”/belongings to honour ties to land and include “ecofacts”. With the arts being an integral space in First Nations/Indigenous identities, redefining belongings as ‘makings of art and performance” will unite a broad spectrum of archaeological materials with related communities; to build on remaking relations and meaning through art, storytelling, and performance. Dr. Barnett’s research establishes a decolonising focus, reframes Indigenous archaeological heritage as a representation of the future, and affirms First Nations/Indigenous sovereignty.
Dr. Barnett is one of 19 UBC researchers recently announced as new and renewed CRCs.
