Brian Thom

Last updated
Brian Thom
Born1970
OccupationAnthropologist
Website brianthom.ca

Brian Thom is a Canadian anthropologist, former land claims negotiator and Indigenous title, rights and governance advisor.

Contents

He is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, where in 2010 he founded the UVic Ethnographic Mapping Lab. [1]

Biography

Brian Thom has done extensive fieldwork since the early 1990s with Coast Salish communities in southwest British Columbia, and more limited fieldwork with other Indigenous peoples in Canada, the US, and the Russian Far East. [2] He has frequently been interviewed or cited by the media for his anthropologist perspective on Indigenous rights and title issues. [3] In 2014 his work on ethnographic mapping using Google Earth was featured in a 2-page weekend spread in the Globe and Mail, [4] an article that won the reporter Justine Hunter the Jack Webster Award for Digital Journalism. [5]

Early career

Early in his career he conducted archaeological research in southwest British Columbia which attended to the dynamics of social and cultural change and continuity in the Salish Sea over the past two millennia, and wrote. [6] Thom received his Ph.D. from McGill University in 2005, his doctoral dissertation draws on a philosophy of place to situate a detailed political ethnography of southeast Vancouver Island Coast Salish peoples' relationships to land. [7]

Modern Day Treaty Negotiations

Over 14 years between 2014-2010 he worked for Sto:lo Nation and the Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group as a negotiator, researcher, and senior advisor. During this time he led negotiations for the HTG-Parks Canada Cooperative Park Management agreement [8] [9] and the HTG-Archaeology branch agreement; [10] co-authored the HTG Strategic Land Use Plan, [11] and Call to Action on Shared Decision Making, [12] participated in the Common Table negotiations, [13] and contributed to the HTG petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Scholarly work

Since joining the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, his research has focused on the political, social and cultural processes that surround Indigenous people's efforts to resolve title and rights claims, and establish self-government. He has published in English and French, chronicling the experiences of the Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group case against Canada at the IACHR.

Brian Thom's scholarship challenges conventional approaches to mapping Indigenous peoples' territories, theorizing how they are instrumental in producing problematic discourses of overlapping claims. [14] [15] [16] and the power of bring ethnographic approaches to Indigenous mapping. [17] [18] Indigenous legal orders have figured centrally in his ethnographic work, including of Coast Salish laws of caring for the dead [19] [20] and Coast Salish land tenure systems. [21] [22] [23] He has led community-engaged research, including the Commemorating Ye'yumnuts project [24] with Cowichan Tribes, [25] and the work to Indigenize the Cordova Bay Local Area Plan. [26]

Thom has served on the editorial board of the Canadian Anthropology Society journal Anthropologica [27] and is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. [28]

Recognition

Awards and honours

Brian Thom’s work has had impact beyond the academy, which has been recognized by several distinguished awards and honours.  In 2022 Brian Thom received the prestigious Leadership Victoria award for Extending Reconciliation, in recognition of his work with WSANEC communities and the District of Saanich to Indigenize local area planning in Cordova Bay.  https://www.leadershipvictoria.ca/vcla-winners; https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2022+leadership-victoria-thom+news

In 2022 Brian Thom was awarded the UVic Provost’s Award in Engaged Scholarship, a distinction for tenured faculty members who have achieved great distinction as community engaged scholars.  https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2022+provosts-engaged-scholars+news

In 2021 Brian was a nominee for the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia Distinguished Academics award Academic of the Year. https://www.cufa.bc.ca/awards/past-winners/winners-of-the-2021-distinguished-academics-awards-nominees/

In 2020, Brian Thom was recognized by the University of Victoria Faculty of Social Sciences for outstanding community outreach https://www.uvic.ca/socialsciences/people/awards-honours/index.php

Selected works

(2020) Thom, Brian with Sarah Morales. The Principle of Sharing and the Shadow of Canadian Property Law.  Pp. 120-162 in Creating Indigenous Property: Power, Rights, and Relationships, edited by Angela Cameron, Sari Graben, and Val Napoleon.  Toronto, University of Toronto Press. https://dx.doi.org/10.3138/9781487532116-005

(2020) Encountering Indigenous Legal Orders in Canada. Invited contribution to Oxford Handbook of Law and Anthropology.  Marie-Claire Foblets, Mark Goodale, Maria Sapignoli, and Olaf Zenke, editors.  London: Oxford University Press. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198840534.013.15

(2020) Addressing the Challenge of Overlapping Claims in Implementing the Vancouver Island (Douglas) Treaties. Anthropologica. 62(2):295-307. https://doi.org/10.3138/anth-2020-0014

(2019) Leveraging International Power: Private Property and the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. pp. 184–203 in Scales of Governance and Indigenous Peoples' Rights, edited by Jennifer Hays and Irène Bellier. (Law and the Postcolonial: Ethics, Politics, and Economy Series), Routledge, London. ISBN   9781138944480 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315671888

(2019) Tirer parti du droit international: la propriété privée et les droits des peuples autochtones au Canada. pp 195–216 dans Les échelles de la gouvernance et des droits des peuples autochtones, Sous la direction de Irène Bellier et Jennifer Hays. Paris, L'Harmattan. ISBN   978-2-343-17978-0 https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=63415

(2017) Entanglements in Coast Salish Ancestral Territories. In Entangled Territorialities: Indigenous Peoples from Canada and Australia in the 21st Century, edited by Françoise Dussart & Sylvie Poirier. pp. 140–162. Anthropological Horizons Series, University of Toronto Press, Toronto. https://utorontopress.com/ca/entangled-territorialities-2

(2016) Thom, Brian; Colombi, Benedict J.; Degai, Tatiana (1 January 2016). "Bringing Indigenous Kamchatka to Google Earth: Collaborative Digital Mapping with the Itelmen Peoples". Sibirica. 15 (3): 1–30. doi:10.3167/sib.2016.150301.

(2014) Thom, Brian (January 2014). "Reframing Indigenous Territories: Private Property, Human Rights and Overlapping Claims". American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 38 (4): 3–28. doi:10.17953/aicr.38.4.6372163053512w6x. hdl: 1828/6270 .

Thom, Brian (2014) Confusion sur les territoires autochtones au Canada. pp. 89–106 dans Terres, territoires, ressources : Politiques, pratiques et droits des peuples autochtones, Sous la direction de Irène Bellier. Paris, L'Harmattan. https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=46070

(2012) Angelbeck, Bill; Grier, Colin (October 2012). "Anarchism and the Archaeology of Anarchic Societies: Resistance to Centralization in the Coast Salish Region of the Pacific Northwest Coast" (PDF). Current Anthropology. 53 (5): 547–587. doi:10.1086/667621. S2CID   142786065.

(2010) Thom, Brian (2010). "The Anathema of Aggregation: Toward 21st-Century Self-Government in the Coast Salish World". Anthropologica. 52 (1): 33–48. JSTOR   29545993.

(2009) Thom, Brian (April 2009). "The paradox of boundaries in Coast Salish territories". Cultural Geographies. 16 (2): 179–205. doi:10.1177/1474474008101516. S2CID   144554257.

(2008) Thom, Brian (19 November 2008). "Disagreement-in-principle: Negotiating the right to practice Coast Salish culture in treaty talks on Vancouver Island, BC". New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry. 2 (1): 23–30.

(2004) Thom, Brian (2004). "Le sens du lieu et les revendications territoriales contemporaines des Salishs de la Côte" [The sense of place and contemporary land claims of the Coast Salish people]. Recherches Amérindiennes Au Québec (in French). 34 (3): 59–74, 2, 116–117. doi: 10.7202/1082186ar . hdl: 1828/6609 . S2CID   194339235. ProQuest   1697485111.

(2003) Thom, Brian (2003). "The Anthropology of Northwest Coast Oral Traditions". Arctic Anthropology. 40 (1): 1–28. doi: 10.1353/arc.2011.0035 . JSTOR   40316573. S2CID   162868717.

(2001) Harlan I. Smith and the Jesup North Pacific Expedition. In Gateways: Exploring the Legacy of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, edited. by I. Krupnik and W. Fitzhugh. pp. 139–180. Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington. https://archive.org/stream/gatewaysexplorin12001krup#page/138/mode/2up

(1992) Thom, Brian (December 1992). "Whalen Farm Revisited: 40 Year Later". The Midden. 24 (5): 3–6.

(1992) Thom, Brian (1992). "An Investigation of Interassemblage Variability within the Gulf of Georgia Phase". Canadian Journal of Archaeology. 16: 24–31. JSTOR   41102848.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Victoria</span> University in Victoria, British Columbia

The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, the institution was initially an affiliated college of McGill University until 1915. From 1921 to 1963, it functioned as an affiliate of the University of British Columbia. In 1963, the institution was reorganized into an independent university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kutenai</span> Ethnic group; an indigenous people of Canada and the US

The Kutenai, also known as the Ktunaxa, Ksanka, Kootenay and Kootenai, are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern Idaho, and western Montana. The Kutenai language is a language isolate, thus unrelated to the languages of neighboring peoples or any other known language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snuneymuxw First Nation</span> Aboriginal people from Vancouver Island

The Snuneymuxw First Nation is located in and around the city of Nanaimo on east-central Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The nation previously had also occupied territory along the Fraser River, in British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada</span> Government department

Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for Canada's northern lands and territories, and one of two departments with responsibility for policies relating to Indigenous peoples in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gitxsan</span> Group of indigenous people in British Columbia, Canada

Gitxsan are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English. Gitksan territory encompasses approximately 35,000 km2 (14,000 sq mi) of land, from the basin of the upper Skeena River from about Legate Creek to the Skeena's headwaters and its surrounding tributaries. Part of the Tsimshianic language group, their culture is considered to be part of the civilization of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, although their territory lies in the Interior rather than on the Coast. They were at one time also known as the Interior Tsimshian, a term which also included the Nisga'a, the Gitxsan's neighbours to the north. Their neighbours to the west are the Tsimshian while to the east the Wetʼsuwetʼen, an Athapaskan people, with whom they have a long and deep relationship and shared political and cultural community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast Salish</span> Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America

The Coast Salish are a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coast Salish languages. The Nuxalk nation are usually included in the group, although their language is more closely related to Interior Salish languages.

Malahat First Nation is a Coast Salish First Nations community of W̱SÁNEĆ representing approximately 350 members with two reserve lands located on the western shore of Saanich Inlet, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The Malahat First Nation is one of many nations within the Coastal Salish group that live on their traditional lands. The Coastal Salish are Indigenous to the Northwest mainland, coast, and islands. The Malahat First Nation is a member nation of the Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council and was the ninth First Nation in Canada to be certified by the First Nations Financial Management Board. The ancestral languages of Malahat Nation are Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓ and SENĆOŦEN. The Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓ or Halkomelem language is spoken in Washington State and British Columbia and is within the Coastal Salish language family. Currently it is being revitalized, as it is mainly spoken by elders in the community. The Chief of Malahat Nation is George Harry. George served on the council for four years before being elected as Chief on June 10, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast</span>

The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are composed of many nations and tribal affiliations, each with distinctive cultural and political identities. They share certain beliefs, traditions and practices, such as the centrality of salmon as a resource and spiritual symbol, and many cultivation and subsistence practices. The term Northwest Coast or North West Coast is used in anthropology to refer to the groups of Indigenous people residing along the coast of what is now called British Columbia, Washington State, parts of Alaska, Oregon, and Northern California. The term Pacific Northwest is largely used in the American context.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cowichan Tribes</span> Place in Canada

Cowichan Tribes is the band government of the Cowichan, a group of Coast Salish peoples who live in the Cowichan Valley region on Vancouver Island. With over 3,800 registered members, it is the single largest First Nations band in British Columbia.

The Lake Cowichan First Nation, government and reserve is located in Lake Cowichan, British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Coast Salish peoples</span>

The History of the Coast Salish, a group of Native American ethnicities on the Pacific coast of North America bound by a common culture, kinship, and languages, dates back several millennia. Their artifacts show great uniformity early on, with a discernible continuity that in some places stretches back more than seven millennia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hwlitsum First Nation</span>

The Hwlitsum First Nation is an organization representing the group historically known as the Lamalchi or Lamalcha but properly called Hwlitsum. The Hwlitsum are the descendants of the Lamalchi people and changed their name to Hwlitsum when they moved to Hwlitsum in 1892. Hul'qumi'num custom names groups based on the location of their winter village. Changing location of their winter village changed the name of the people. The Hwlitsum are a Hulquminum-speaking people whose home region is in the Southern Gulf Islands. The Hwlitsum were never granted reserves or band status and are currently seeking recognition as a band government from the governments of British Columbia and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Assu</span> Ligwildaxw Kwakwakawakw contemporary artist

Sonny Assu is a Ligwilda'xw Kwakwaka'wakw contemporary artist. Assu's paintings, sculptures, prints, installations, and interventions are all infused with his wry humour which is a tool to open the conversation around his themes of predilections: consumerism, colonization and imperialism.

Debra Sparrow, or θəliχʷəlʷət (Thelliawhatlwit), is a Musqueam weaver, artist and knowledge keeper. She is self-taught in Salish design, weaving, and jewellery making.

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is a Cowichan/Syilx First Nations contemporary artist from Canada. His paintings employ elements of Northwest Coast formline design and Surrealism to explore issues as environmentalism, land ownership, and Canada's treatment of First Nations peoples.

Michael I. Asch is an anthropologist in Canada. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta and is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria. Much of his work over the years has focused on issues of Indigenous rights and Indigenous-Settler relations in Canada.

Maxine Kamari Clarke is a Canadian-American scholar with family roots in Jamaica. As of 2020, she is a distinguished professor at the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies and the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. In 2021, she was named a Guggenheim Fellow.

Beryl Mildred Cryer (1889–1980) was a Canadian writer about Indigenous cultures on Vancouver Island.

Alexander Denny, otherwise known as Kji-keptin Alex Denny of the Mi'kmaq Grand Council, both a founding member and two-term president of the UNSI, was most prominently known for the role he played in the ongoing battle for recognition of Mi'kmaq treaties and Aboriginal rights. Born to the Eskasoni First Nation and raised by two elders in the community, Denny was taught the importance of Mi'kmaq treaties from a young age. His passion for and knowledge of his community ultimately led Denny to be credited with attaining linguistic and political rights for the Mi'kmaq Nation at an international level. Additionally, It was Denny and the UNSI that organized the very first Treaty Day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camille Callison</span> Canadian librarian and indigenous knowledges activist

Camille Callison is an Indigenous librarian, archivist, academic, and cultural activist who is a member of the Tsesk iye (Crow) Clan of the Tahltan Nation in what is now known as British Columbia, Canada. She is the University Librarian at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. Callison is an advocate for the rights of Indigenous peoples and knowledge, particularly as these rights intersect with GLAM institutions. Callison is actively involved across local, national, and international professional associations related to the library and informational needs of Indigenous peoples, including in her role as co-lead of the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA).

References

  1. ↑ "Ethnographic Mapping Lab - University of Victoria". www.uvic.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  2. ↑ "Brian Thom". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  3. ↑ Thom, Brian (2020). "brianthom.ca – News Media". www.brianthom.ca. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  4. ↑ "Oral history goes digital as Google helps map ancestral lands" . Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  5. ↑ "The Jack Webster Foundation – recognizing outstanding journalism in British Columbia for over 25 years". www.jackwebster.com. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  6. ↑ Thom, Brian. "brianthom.ca - Archaeology". Coast Salish Archaeology Essays. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  7. ↑ Thom, Brian David. "Coast Salish senses of place : dwelling, meaning, power, property and territory in the Coast Salish world". escholarship.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  8. ↑ "Gulf Islands National Park Reserve Interim Agreement" (PDF). 2004-01-04. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  9. ↑ "Interim Consultation Agreement Concerning the Cooperative Planning and Management of Gulf Islands National Park Reserve" (PDF). 2006.
  10. ↑ "Memorandum of Understanding: First Nation Heritage Conservation in Hul'qumi'num Tumuhw" (PDF). 2007.
  11. ↑ Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group (Cowichan, Chemainus, Penelakut, Lyackson, Halalt and Lake Cowichan) (2005). "Shxunutun's Tu Suleluxwtst / In the footsteps of our Ancestors: Interim Strategic Land Plan for the Hul'qumi'num Core Traditional Territory" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group (2008). "A Call to Action: Shared Decision Making, A New Model of Reconciliation of First Nations Natural Resource Jurisdiction" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "Common Table Report released | BC Treaty Commission". www.bctreaty.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  14. ↑ Thom, Brian (2009-04-01). "The paradox of boundaries in Coast Salish territories" . Cultural Geographies. 16 (2): 179–205. doi:10.1177/1474474008101516. ISSN   1474-4740. S2CID   144554257.
  15. ↑ Thom, B. (2014). Confusion sur les territoires autochtones au Canada. Terres, territoires, ressources: Politiques, pratiques et droits des peuples autochtones, 89-106.
  16. ↑ Thom, Brian (2014). "Reframing Indigenous Territories: Private Property, Human Rights and Overlapping Claims". American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 38 (4): 3–28. doi:10.17953/aicr.38.4.6372163053512w6x. hdl: 1828/6270 .
  17. ↑ Ethnographic Approaches to Indigenous Mapping , retrieved 2021-08-19
  18. ↑ Problematic Polygons: Alternative Cartographic Representations of Indigenous Territories , retrieved 2021-08-19
  19. ↑ "UBC Press | First Nations Cultural Heritage and Law - Case Studies, Voices, and Perspectives : Edited by Catherine Bell and Val Napoleon". UBC Press. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  20. ↑ Thom, Brian (2021-06-10). "7 Entanglements in Coast Salish Ancestral Territories". Entangled Territorialities. University of Toronto Press. pp. 140–162. doi:10.3138/9781487513764-008. ISBN   978-1-4875-1376-4.
  21. ↑ Thom, Brian (2020-12-15), Foblets, Marie-Claire; Goodale, Mark; Sapignoli, Maria; Zenker, Olaf (eds.), "Encountering Indigenous Law in Canada" , The Oxford Handbook of Law and Anthropology, Oxford University Press, pp. 112–131, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198840534.013.15, ISBN   978-0-19-884053-4 , retrieved 2021-08-19
  22. ↑ Thom, Brian (2020-12-24). "Addressing the Challenge of Overlapping Claims in Implementing the Vancouver Island (Douglas) Treaties". Anthropologica. 62 (2): 295–307. doi: 10.3138/anth-2020-0014 . hdl: 1828/15584 . ISSN   2292-3586.
  23. ↑ Morales, Sarah; Thom, Brian (2020-12-07). 3 The Principle of Sharing and the Shadow of Canadian Property Law. University of Toronto Press. doi:10.3138/9781487532116-005. ISBN   978-1-4875-3211-6. S2CID   242597622.
  24. ↑ "Commemorating Ye'yumnuts". www.yeyumnuts.ca. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  25. ↑ CASCA 2021 Presentaton by Brian Thom , retrieved 2021-08-19
  26. ↑ Geo for Good Lightning Talks Series #2 Community Mapping , retrieved 2021-08-19
  27. ↑ "Editorial Board | Anthropologica". www.utpjournals.press. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  28. ↑ Royal Anthropological Institute. "Royal Anthropological Institute Directory of Fellows". nomadit.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.