Current PhD Fellows

Joaquin Enrique Carrizosa’s work has focused on the interactions between indigenous societies inhabiting high biodiversity areas, the state’s socio-environmental policies and the circumstances through which local populations may achieve sustainable natural resource management and improved livelihoods in diverse regions of the Colombian Amazon and the south of Mexico (Oaxaca and Chiapas). His academic background is social anthropology with a minor in biology; M.A in Regional studies in Environment and development and PhD candidate at the University of Kent funded by the Foundation of Urban and Regional Studies (Oxford University Centre for the Environment). His doctoral thesis analyses the polysemic and complex construction of the concept of ‘territorio’ among Kofán A’i people in the Putumayo.

The Darrell Posey Fellowship will help support two interconnected actions: (1)  it will help with meetings logistics (transportation, alimentation, etc.) for ASMIK members from diverse Kofán reserves, who became involved in his research and who understand such an endeavor not merely as an academic project but as a necessary space for interaction, discussion, and resolution; and (2) it will help to document the participatory research process not only for his the PhD dissertation format but also to create a research document, in local terms, where participants’ perceptions, ideas and proposals can be registered and contribute to ASMIK’s working plan which is under reconstruction at the moment.

Read more about Joaquin’s work!

Gabrielle Legault is Métis from southwest Saskatchewan and has a background in historical archaeology and indigenous studies. Her Master’s research focused on examining the indigenous identities of the Okanagan’s historic McDougall family. Gabrielle has experience working with provincial and local Métis organizations as she is an executive board member for the Métis Community Services Society of BC and has been conducting collaborative research with Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) since 2008. Gabrielle’s work with MNBC included developing complex archival map-based databases, facilitating consultations with Parks Canada and coordinating community engagement workshops on issues related to the Métis presence on the land.

Gabrielle’s PhD research will use participatory mapping to examine the cultural ecology of Métis traditional land use (TLU) activities in British Columbia’s Flathead Valley. Furthermore, Gabrielle’s research will explore the idealization of connections to land as a central construct of Métis identity.

Read more about Gabrielle’s work!