UFV Research Chairs

UFV's commitment to fostering research related to Aboriginal topics received a huge boost when the university was awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Studies by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The award allowed UFV to build on existing interdisciplinary collaboration in various aspects of Aboriginal studies involving the departments of history, geography, anthropology, sociology, criminal justice, visual arts and social work.

Professor Hugh Brody lead an ambitious program of research on the role played by Aboriginal youth in the development of their communities. Brody's work in Aboriginal communities helped to teach a new generation to do research for themselves and their communities - helping them to tell their own stories.

Brody's research included a number of multidisciplinary and multimedia projects, including one with young Aboriginal people in the Fraser Valley. The work sought to better understand how young men and women in Sto:lo communities define the value of their lives. 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.

Read more about Dr. Hugh Brody