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November 12, 2004
Contact: Kim Lawrence UCFV awarded Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal StudiesUCFV took another huge stride forward today in its evolution as a regional university, with the announcement that it has been awarded a Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Studies by the federal Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Internationally recognized scholar, anthropologist, land claims researcher, policy adviser, film-maker and writer Hugh Brody will occupy the chair, where he will focus on research related to aboriginal land claims and aboriginal youth. The chair brings with it funding of $200,000 per year for a minimum of seven years. UCFV also received a related funding grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for $75,000 for equipment related to the research that the Aboriginal Studies chair will undertake.
“This chair and our new researcher, Hugh Brody, are key elements in our plans to build research capacity at UCFV,” says UCFV president Skip Bassford. “They reflect our commitment to developing research strategies that respond to the diverse interests of our communities and create strong links with other institutions and researchers across Canada.” “We’re proud that the funding announced today will support research by Canada’s leading scholarly and scientific minds,” said Prime Minister Paul Martin. “From health care, to the environment, to building stronger communities, the work of these Canada Research Chairs will have a direct impact on the lives of Canadians and help position Canada as a world leader in the 21st century economy.” When he arrives at UCFV later this month, Professor Brody’s research will include a number of multidisciplinary and multimedia projects, including one with young Aboriginal people in the Fraser Valley. This project will seek to understand more about how young men and women in Sto:lo communities define the value of their lives. The research will also include a comparative study of Aboriginal land use, land rights, and land rights research methodologies that have evolved in Canada. Brody’s work will also build on collaboration among several UCFV departments already involved in various aspects of Aboriginal studies involving the departments of history, geography, anthropology, sociology, criminal justice, visual arts, and social work. “We are extremely pleased to have been able to engage a researcher with the expertise and stature that Hugh Brody brings to this position,” notes Dr. Bassford. “His work at UCFV will add to a long list of outstanding scholarship in the fields of aboriginal land claims and youth. His research will enrich the institution, and the aboriginal and general communities, and will make possible many future opportunities for partnerships in the development of research and policy on aboriginal issues.” As a comparative anthropologist, Hugh Brody’s work has taken him around the globe. He has studied land use issues related to the Hai-kom Bushmen in Namibia, Africa, researched the economic impact of hydro projects on the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho, and examined the social, economic and cultural losses due to resettlement of tribal communities in India. Brody’s work also includes a long list of research projects with Aboriginal people in Canada, including work with the Inuit people in Labrador, the Mowachaht/Muchalaht Band on Vancouver Island, the Nisga’a of the Nass Valley, the Dunne-za and Cree of the Rocky Mountains, and the Ojibway in northwest Ontario. Brody plans to use video production as a tool in his new work as the holder of the first Chair in Aboriginal Studies at UCFV. He has often used film and video production in his research projects and has produced a number of award winning documentary films based on his work. They include films documenting the history and culture of Aboriginal people in Canada and the life of peasants in western Ireland. He has authored nine books, published 16 essays and produced five documentary films. With more than 25 years of research and advocacy in the field of Aboriginal land use and Aboriginal rights, Brody is ready to take this research and its application in a new direction – connecting it to Aboriginal youth and the challenges of community development. As the Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Studies, Brody is drawing together threads of research and experience from a diversity of cultures in order to push land claims and rights research in new directions. Of particular interest to him is the role played by Aboriginal youth in the development of their communities. Brody’s work in Aboriginal communities is helping to teach a new generation to do research for themselves and their communities -- teaching them to tell their own stories and to discover for themselves what is important and necessary to create sustainable communities. The primary objective of the Canada Research Chairs program is to enable Canadian universities, together with their affiliated research institutes and hospitals, to achieve the highest levels of research excellence and to become world-class research centres in the global, knowledge-based economy. The Canada Research Chairs program is increasing Canada's research capacity by attracting and retaining excellent researchers in Canadian universities. The program also enables outstanding university researchers to create ideas and put them to work right here in Canada. For more information about the Canada Research Chairs program, see the following website: www.chairs.gc.ca For more information about the Chair in Aboriginal Studies at UCFV contact Dean of Research and Industry Liaison, Yvon Dandurand at 604-864-4654 or email Yvon.Dandurand@ucfv.ca
-30- Background on Hugh Brody Hugh Brody was born in 1943 and educated at Trinity College, Oxford. He taught social anthropology at Queen's University, Belfast. He is an Honorary Associate of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, and an Associate of the School for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto. In the 1970s he worked with the Canadian Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, and then with Inuit and Indian organizations, mapping hunter-gatherer territories and researching land claims and indigenous rights in many parts of Canada. He was an adviser to the Mackenzie Pipeline Inquiry, a member of the World Bank's famous Morse Commission and chairman of the Snake River Independent Review, all of which took him to the encounter between large-scale development and indigenous communities. Since 1997 he has worked with the South African San Institute on Bushman history and land rights in the Southern Kalahari. - 30 - Back to November 2004 news releases
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