Gerald Taiaiake Alfred is an author, educator and activist, born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, in 1964 and raised in the community of

Kahnawake The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, across from Montreal. Establi ...

. Alfred is an internationally recognized Kanien’kehá:ka professor.

Early life and education

Alfred grew up in

and graduated from Loyola High School in Montreal. After high school, he served in the Marine Corps for three years until 1984.Faculty Page
of the Indigenous Governance Program, Faculty of Human and Social Development,

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

He then received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in History from

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

and Ph.D. from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Career

Alfred was the founding director of the Indigenous Governance Program (serving from 1999 until 2015) and was awarded a

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

2003–2007, in addition to a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in education. In 2019 he resigned from the

in the wake of an investigation of creating a toxic learning environment. In 2019, Alfred joined the Kahnawà:ke governance project as project manager. In 2023, he released his fourth book, titled ''Its All About the Land: Collected Talks and Interviews on Indigenous Resurgence'', published by the University of Toronto Press.

Bibliography

* ''Heeding the Voices of our Ancestors : Kahnawake Mohawk Politics and the Rise of Native Nationalism'', Oxford University Press (Canada), 1995. * ''Peace, Power, Righteousness : an Indigenous manifesto'', Oxford University Press (Canada), 1999. * ''Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom'', Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2005. * ''Peace, Power, Righteousness : an Indigenous manifesto'', 2nd Ed., Oxford University Press (Canada), 2009. * ''It’s All about the Land: Collected Talks and Interviews on Indigenous Resurgence'', University of Toronto Press, 2023.

References

External links

Personal web site
of Taiaiake Alfred 1964 births Living people 20th-century United States Marines 20th-century First Nations writers 21st-century First Nations writers Activists from Montreal Concordia University alumni Cornell University alumni First Nations activists Writers from Montreal Academic staff of the University of Victoria Canada Research Chairs Indspire Awards First Nations academics Indigenous studies in Canada Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke people {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub