Anthropologist Dr. Kristen Barnett and Dramaturge Lindsay Lachance from the Faculty of Arts have been named Canada Research Chairs in recognition of excellence in their respective fields of study.
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. Kristen Barnett
Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Archaeology; Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology
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. Lindsay Lachance
Canada Research Chair in Land-based and Relational Dramaturgies; Assistant Professor, Theatre Studies, at the Department of Theatre and Film
Dr. Lachance is an award-winning dramaturge who served as the inaugural Artistic Associate of Indigenous Theatre at Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC), the world’s first National Indigenous theatre department. Lindsay’s dramaturgical approach is influenced by her relationship with birch bark biting and the Gatineau River. With her robust dramaturgical practice, she has conducted workshops and produced new work in collaboration with emerging and established theatre artists within Canada and beyond. Dr. Lachance’s research examines collaborations and dramaturgies that involve physical interactions with land and water, or that are invoked philosophically when developing the process’ framework. These processes are important sites for thinking through the political iterations of Indigenous Peoples practicing theatre in spite of historical exclusion of Indigenous voices, practices, and criticism from the Canadian theatrical canon.
The research program of Dr. Lachance will gather a research collective of theatre artists and academics to produce a digital platform where dramaturgical resources, discussions and workshops will be shared. In addition, she will publish an anthology and create a podcast based on the research collective’s findings.
