New Ph.D. and Postdoctoral Researchers Contribute to Work on Indigenous Epistemologies and Land Stewardship

At the intersection of research concerning ecosystems, health, and populations, two Ph.D. students and a Postdoctoral Fellow linked to a Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy research initiative are advancing a transformative, relational approach to knowledge-making—one that centers on Indigenous Knowledge Systems and cross-cultural collaboration. Dr. John Robert White is a new Postdoctoral Fellow at the Prentice Institute, supervised by Dr. Andrea Cuéllar (Associate Director) and Dr. Lars Hallstrom (Director). Chantelle Fitton MSc, RN, and Brett Weighill MA, BSc, BEd, are new Culture, Social and Political Thought Ph.D. students supervised by Dr. Cuéllar and Dr. Patrick Wilson (Modern Languages and Linguistics), respectively. Each brings distinct disciplinary lenses to their work, yet their research converges on a shared commitment to Indigenous-led frameworks of care, sovereignty, and ecological stewardship. 

Dr. White’s development of ethnobiodiversity informatics offers a groundbreaking model for integrating cultural and ecological data across worldviews, challenging anthropocentric paradigms and proposing a multispecies, multi-scalar understanding of biodiversity that foregrounds human cultural diversity as integral to ecosystem health. Fitton uses her own Anishinaabe worldview to guide her work; her project will focus on Blackfoot women’s roles in the overlapping areas of food sovereignty, health justice and community resilience. Weighill’s research seeks to understand Piikani and settler concepts of ecological health, shedding light on the motivations for and barriers to adopting regenerative agricultural practices for ecological renewal. 

Together, their projects contribute to a larger international collaboration facilitated by the Prentice Institute that connects researchers from the Kainai Ecosystem Protection Association, Sacha Awana researchers from the Quijos Nation of Ecuador, and Kaqchiquel Maya researchers from the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute in Guatemala with academic partners at institutions in Canada and abroad. The team aims to contribute to the braiding of Indigenous knowledges across the hemisphere in ways that honour place-based epistemologies while fostering transnational solidarity and research cooperation. This work reaffirms Indigenous knowledges as essential not only to Indigenous futures but to the shared future of all life on Earth.