Zoe Todd is a

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

anthropologist and scholar of

Indigenous studies There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

human-animal studies Anthrozoology, also known as human–animal studies (HAS), is the subset of ethnobiology that deals with biological interaction, interactions between humans and other animals. It is an interdisciplinary field that overlaps with other disciplin ...

science and technology studies Science and technology studies (STS) or science, technology, and society is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts. Histo ...

and the

Anthropocene ''Anthropocene'' is a term that has been used to refer to the period of time during which human impact on the environment, humanity has become a planetary force of change. It appears in scientific and social discourse, especially with respect to ...

. She is an associate professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies at Simon Fraser University and a Presidential Visiting Fellow at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

during the 2018–19 academic year.

Early life

Todd was born to a

father and white settler mother in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, in 1983. She credits her father, an artist, Gary Todd's engagement with his Métis heritage as an influential factor in her scholarship; especially his art and his knowledge of fish and wildlife of the Canadian prairies. Todd is a descendant of William Todd, a 19th-century surgeon from the British Navy. She received her BSc in biological sciences and an MSc in rural sociology from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

and her PhD in social anthropology from the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. She received the prestigious

Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation (), commonly called the Trudeau Foundation (), is a Canadian charity founded in 2001 named after former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Donations to the charity increased when Justin Trudeau became t ...

Scholarship in 2011 for her PhD research.

Research

Todd's research concerns human-animal relations, in particular, human-fish, relationships in the context of

Settler colonialism Settler colonialism is a logic and structure of displacement by Settler, settlers, using colonial rule, over an environment for replacing it and its indigenous peoples with settlements and the society of the settlers. Settler colonialism is ...

in Canada. She is an assistant professor at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

's Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She is most well known for her work on decolonizing anthropology and Indigenous perspectives on the Anthropocene. She has been a faculty at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity. In 2018, she became a Visiting Assistant Professor at

's Program in History of Science & Medicine. She has been featured on the CBC, Walrus Talks, Buzzfeed, Rabble and many others on Indigenous issues, feminism, environment, colonialism, capitalism and rape culture. Todd is also known for her artistic work, which are mostly inspired by the freshwater fish of Alberta. In 2018, she was interviewed by

Sarain Fox Sarain Fox is a Canadian Anishinaabe activist, broadcaster and filmmaker. She is most noted for her 2020 documentary film '' Inendi'', for which she received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Host or Interviewer in a News or Information ...

on her work on Indigenous perspectives on the Anthropocene for the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street, Dundas Street West in the Grange Park (neighbourhood), Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of phys ...

podcast ''Into the Anthropocene''.

Selected works

Academic works: * Todd, Zoe. (2018). ‘Refracting colonialism in Canada: fish tales, text, and insistent public grief.’ Mark Jackson, editor. ''Coloniality, Ontology, and the Question of the Posthuman.'' Routledge Press''.'' * Todd, Z. (2015). Indigenizing the Anthropocene. Pp. 241–254 in ''Art in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Aesthetics, Politics, Environment and Epistemology''. Heather Davis and Etienne Turpin, editors. Open Humanities Press. * Davis, Heather and Zoe Todd. (2017). On the importance of a date, or, decolonizing the Anthropocene. ''ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies''. * Todd, Zoe. (2017). Fish, Kin, and Hope: tending to water violations in amiskwaciwâskahikan and Treaty Six Territory. ''Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Inquiry'' 43(1): 102–107. * Todd, Zoe. (2016). ‘How do you teach about the layered colonial realities that mould a Canadian city?’ (commentary). Aboriginal Policy Studies 6(1): 90–97. (Invited piece) * Todd, Z. (2016). ‘An Indigenous Feminist’s Take on the Ontological Turn: ‘Ontology’ is just another word for colonialism’. ''Journal of Historical Sociology'' 29(1): 4-22. * Todd, Z. (2014). ‘Fish pluralities: Human-animal relations and sites of engagement in Paulatuuq, Arctic Canada’. ''Etudes/Inuit/Studies'' 38(1-2): 217–238. Other writing: * Todd, Z. (2015). Rethinking Aesthetics and Ontology through Indigenous Law: On the work of Val Napoleon and Loretta Todd. ''C Magazine'' 126: 10–17. * Todd, Z. (2014). Creating citizen spaces through Indigenous soundscapes. ''Spacing Magazine''. Published 1 October 2014 http://spacing.ca/national/2014/10/01/creating-citizen-spaces-indigenous-soundscapes/ * Todd, Z. (2013). On Scottish Independence — a Metis Perspective. ActiveHistory.ca. http://activehistory.ca/2013/12/on-scottish-independence-a-metis-perspective/ * Todd, Z. (2013). “Remembering Indigenous Edmonton: a journey through plants”. ''Spacing Edmonton''. http://spacing.ca/edmonton/2013/04/04/remembering-indigenous-edmonton-a-journey-through-plants/

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Zoe Canadian anthropologists Canadian women anthropologists Alumni of the University of Aberdeen University of Alberta alumni Academic staff of Carleton University Artists from Edmonton Writers from Edmonton Science and technology studies scholars Métis feminists Métis in Alberta Métis artists Canadian feminist writers 1983 births Living people 21st-century anthropologists 21st-century Canadian social scientists Canadian Métis women