Congratulations to ethnology PhD student Blaire Topash Caldwell

Departmental News

Posted:  Dec 02, 2014 - 10:08am

Congratulations to ethnology PhD student Blaire Topash Caldwell on her successful proposal for outside funding of her research project," Anishinaabe Artisanship and Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Intersections of National Resource Management Policy and the Emerald Ash Borer in the Great Lakes." Blaire is the 2015 Indigenous Ethnobiologist Fellow of the Society for Ethnobiology. Check back later on the Society's website for more details about the project. http://ethnobiology.org/news

She says, "my research examines Anishinaabe traditional black ash tree basketry in tribal communities in the Great Lakes area. Specifically, I analyze the ways in which basketry and related activities inform and intersect with tribally-based natural resource management initiatives to combat the spread of an invasive species: the Emerald Ash Borer. I focus on the roles traditional knowledge systems play in natural resource management initiatives, as well as the relationship between Indigenous ecological strategies and larger state and federal natural resource management policy."