Elizaebeth Wessells

Bonjour! ublaakkut! My main research interests center on Indigenous landscape management practices, and how these shape the relationships between people, plants, and place. I want to use the tools of archaeology to shed light on past Indigenous strategies and relations in the Pacific Northwest, and provide context today for tribal, state, and federal policymakers and land managers. Before and during the pandemic, I was privileged to study Inuktitut with Mick Mallon and Alexina Kublu through the support of the Canada Studies Center FLAS program. Now with the FLAS Fellowship in French, my goal is to develop conversational skills and translation abilities to explore comparative perspectives on landscape practices by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit in Canada. I aspire to be able to translate and share my own work, read and discuss work written in French, and, perhaps most importantly, to build relationships across the Franco- and Anglophone environmental justice communities working in the U.S. and Canada. In my graduate work and future career, I want to leverage the resources at hand to support Indigenous sovereignty. Merci, qujannamiik!