Nancy Turner | |
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Born | Nancy Jean Turner 1947 (age 75–76) Berkeley, California, U.S. |
Nationality | Canadian |
Citizenship | Canada |
Alma mater | University of British Columbia |
Known for | compendium of aboriginal culture and plant lore in British Columbia |
Awards | R.E. Schultes Award (1997) Order of British Columbia (1999) Canadian Botanical Association’s Lawson Medal (2002) William L. Brown Award (2008) Order of Canada (2009) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Ethnobiology Ethnobotany |
Institutions | School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria; Department of Botany, University of British Columbia (adjunct) |
Thesis | Plant taxonomic systems and ethnobotany of three contemporary Indian groups of the Pacific Northwest (Haida, Bella Coola, and Lillooet) (1973) |
Nancy Jean Turner CM OBC FRSC FLS (born 1947) is a Canadian ethnobiologist, originally qualified in botany, who has done extensive research work with the indigenous peoples of British Columbia, the results of which she has documented in a number of books and numerous articles.
Turner was born in Berkeley in California in 1947 but moved to British Columbia when she was five. She obtained her doctorate in Ethnobotany after studying the Bella Coola, Haida and Lillooet indigenous groups of the Pacific North-West. [1] She works by interviewing the groups' elder members to identify their names for plants and their uses. Comparison and scientific analysis of this data has enabled her to draw conclusions. [2] Turner's research identified not only the role that plants have had in these group's culture but also the effects that indigenous people have had historically on the landscape of Canada. [1]
The Government of British Columbia admitted Nancy Turner to the Order of British Columbia in 1999 and describe her, her work, and her contributions as follows: [3]
Nancy J. Turner ... is an internationally-distinguished scholar and scientist who has devoted her life to documenting the endangered knowledge of First Nations. As a pioneer in ethnobiology, her more than 25 years of research have focused on the diverse interactions of First Peoples in British Columbia with the ecosystems they depended on and the critical role of plant resources for foods, medicines and materials. Her research will be seen as a most valuable compendium of aboriginal culture and plant lore in British Columbia.
William Ronald Reid Jr. was a Haida artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is regarded as one of the most significant Northwest Coast artists of the late twentieth century.
Haida are an indigenous group who have traditionally occupied Haida Gwaii, an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, for at least 12,500 years.
The Nuu-chah-nulth, also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifteen related tribes whose traditional home is on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago located between 55–125 km (34–78 mi) off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Hecate Strait. Queen Charlotte Sound lies to the south, with Vancouver Island beyond. To the north, the disputed Dixon Entrance separates Haida Gwaii from the Alexander Archipelago in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for many aspects of life, such as plants as medicines, foods, intoxicants and clothing. Richard Evans Schultes, often referred to as the "father of ethnobotany", explained the discipline in this way:
Ethnobotany simply means ... investigating plants used by societies in various parts of the world.
The Royal British Columbia Museum, founded in 1886, is a history museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The "Royal" title was approved by Queen Elizabeth II and bestowed by Prince Philip in 1987, to coincide with a royal tour of that year. The museum merged with the British Columbia Provincial Archives in 2003.
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area, and Haida Heritage Site, usually referred to simply as Gwaii Haanas, is located in southernmost Haida Gwaii, 130 kilometres off the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Gwaii Haanas protects an archipelago of 138 islands, the largest being Moresby Island and the southernmost being Kunghit Island. "Gwaii Haanas" means "Islands of Beauty" in X̱aayda kíl, the language of the Haida people.
Ethnobiology is the scientific study of the way living things are treated or used by different human cultures. It studies the dynamic relationships between people, biota, and environments, from the distant past to the immediate present.
Argentina pacifica, sometimes called pacific silverweed, silverweed cinquefoil, or simply silverweed, is a low-growing perennial (6") with pinnately compound green leaves with silvery undersides. It is a member of the species aggregate known as Argentina anserina or Potentilla anserina. The yellow, saucer-shaped flowers appear late spring through summer. Pacific silverweed spreads very quickly in moist areas. Preferring salt marshes, river estuaries and shorelines, they are often seen growing alongside springbank clover. They need sun and regular water.
Robert Charles Davidson LL. D. D.F.A., is a Canadian artist of Haida heritage. Davidson's Haida name is G̲uud San Glans, which means "Eagle of the Dawn". He is a leading figure in the renaissance of Haida art and culture. He lives in White Rock, British Columbia.
The Gitga'at are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and inhabit the village of Hartley Bay, British Columbia, the name of which in the Tsimshian language is Txałgiu. The name Gitga'ata in the Tsimshian language means "people of the cane". The Gitga'ata, along with the Kitasoo Tsimshians at Klemtu, B.C., are often classed as "Southern Tsimshian," their traditional language being the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language. Most Tsimshian-speakers in Hartley Bay today, however, speak the form of the language shared by villages to the north. Their band government is the Hartley Bay Indian Band, aka the Gitga'at First Nation.
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.
SG̱ang Gwaay Llnagaay, commonly known by its English name Ninstints, is a village site of the Haida people and part of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site on Haida Gwaii on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada.
Annie Zixtkwu York was a distinguished elder of the Nlaka'pamux people of the Spuzzum First Nation of Spuzzum, in Fraser Canyon located in the lower region of British Columbia, Canada. York was raised by her Nlaka'pamux family where she came to be bilingual speaking English and Nlaka'pamuctsin.She dedicated herself to the Christian religion and the beliefs of the Nlaka'pamux people, Nle'kepmx. York's family members educated her about the history of Spuzzum as well as the origin of its name, Spuzzum chiefs, and the ethnobotany of the region. York was known to be a storyteller, always recording and sharing stories.
Viburnum edule, the squashberry, mooseberry, moosomin, moosewood viburnum, pembina, pimina, highbush cranberry, or lowbush cranberry is a species of shrub native to Canada and the northern parts of the US. It stands roughly 2 m tall with many stems and smooth branches.
Dana Sue Lepofsky is a Canadian archaeologist and ethnobiologist. She is a professor at Simon Fraser University, a former president of the Society of Ethnobiology, and received the Smith-Wintemberg Award in 2018. Her research focuses on the historical ecology of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson is a Canadian indigenous lawyer, artist, activist and author and a member of the Raven Clan from the Haida Nation. As a lawyer, Williams-Davidson specializes in aboriginal-environmental law, having represented the Haida Nation at all levels of court since 1996 and notably participating in the litigation of the Haida Nation's TFL39 Case to protect the old-growth forests of Haida Gwaii, a case that effectively altered the government's stance on the consultation and accommodation of Aboriginal Rights.
Kung Jaadee is a traditional Haida storyteller, singer, drummer, teacher, and children's book author from the village of Old Massett, Haida Gwaii in Northern British Columbia, Canada.
Various Imperial and colonial actions against Haida Gwaii Authorities have been undertaken since the 19th century. The indigenous peoples of Haida Gwaii often reacted violently to European and American ships which trespassed in their waters and lands. From the 18th to 19th centuries, various skirmishes took place between Haida authorities and European and American merchantmen and warships. Canadian settlers did not arrive on Haida Gwaii islands until 1900, and many Canadian colonial police actions attempted to assault the Haida Gwaii authorities and citizens. The indigenous Haida population was decimated by diseases such as smallpox which were introduced accidentally by way of Fort Victoria. The presence of foreign diseases, to which the Haida had no immunity, along with some colonial hostility, meant that the numbers of Haida citizens was reduced from tens of thousands to 588 by 1915. This erosion of Haida cultural institutions was essential to open the way for subsequent British and Canadian incursions and jurisdictional claims.
Marianne Boelscher Ignace is a Canadian linguist and anthropologist. Married into the Shuswap people, she is a Full professor in the departments of Linguistics and Indigenous Studies at Simon Fraser University (SFU), and Director of SFU's Indigenous Languages Program and First Nations Language Centre. In 2020, Ignace was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for her work in revitalizing and preserving indigenous languages.