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NCEAS 2023 DEIJ Seminar Series: Doing the work to unsettle ecology: Responsibility and accountability for non-Indigenous ecologists.

May 31, 2023 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Join NCEAS’ third iteration of our popular seminar series on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) in environmental data science. The speakers will share their research at the intersection of ecology, environmental science, data science, and DEIJ.

Title: Doing the work to unsettle ecology: Responsibility and accountability for non-Indigenous ecologists

Talk Abstract
Western-trained scientists are increasingly recognizing the ways that the ecological sciences can and often do reproduce the imperial and colonial roots of the discipline. Several recent publications have called for the decolonization, Indigenization, or unsettling of ecology and its related fields, but these articles have tended to focus on preliminary or individual steps that, on their own, will not be enough to shift power from university-affiliated researchers to Indigenous Peoples. However, shifts in power are an obligatory component of any attempts to unsettle academic disciplines. In this talk, Dr. Cannon will argue that non-Indigenous scientists, who benefit from settler colonialism, have a responsibility to do the work necessary to unsettle ecology, including shifting the balance of power within academia. Meeting this responsibility requires that non-Indigenous ecologists make themselves accountable to Indigenous scholars and knowledge-holders in all aspects of their work. Drawing from over a decade of experience, Dr. Cannon will reflect on what she has learned through Indigenous partnerships and associated research practices and the mistakes she has made along the way. She will also share how these experiences have affected the ways she navigates academia as a settler ecologist who carries responsibilities to the traditional stewards of the lands and waters upon which she lives and works.

About the speaker
Dr. Sara Cannon is a postdoctoral fellow in the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries, housed within the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia. She is a third-generation settler of Irish and Croatian descent who grew up on traditional Piscataway territory along the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland, USA. Before moving to Canada to pursue her graduate studies, Sara earned her B.Sc. in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She received her MSc and PhD from the University of British Columbia’s Department of Geography, where she studied the cumulative and interactive effects of climate change and local human-related threats to coral reefs in the Gilbert Islands of Kiribati and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, both atoll nations in the central Pacific. Sara is passionate about producing actionable research that is directed by and centers the needs and voices of Indigenous peoples. As a postdoc, Sara partners with the Tsilhqot’in First Nations to support the Fisheries Department’s ongoing stewardship of Fraser River sockeye and Chinook salmon, supervised by Dr. Andrea Reid.

Register here.

Details

Date:
May 31, 2023
Time:
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Venue

Webinar