An Assistant Professor at UNBC is examining the ways that muskeg and its reclamation appear in Indigenous, government and scientific discourses.
It is the focus of the first Anthropology in Our Backyards series, which kicks off Thursday at the university.
The online talk is called “Growing [With] Muskeg: Oil Sands Reclamation and Healing” and will be hosted by Dr. Tara Joly who will discuss the social and cultural context for the creation of these reclaimed landscapes.
She added oil sands companies in northern Alberta are required to reclaim land disturbed by their extractive activities.
“Considering much of Canada’s subarctic is impacted by extractive industries and related marks of settler colonialism, I’m interested in how different people respond to and consider ways in which people can live with the damage,” explained Dr. Joly.
“Can we attempt to heal disturbed landscapes, and how are different ways of knowing involved in the process? In reclamation discourse and practice, tensions often erupt between settler-colonial and Indigenous perspectives on land use and value.”
Her online public lecture is open to everyone takes place from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
You can register for it by clicking here.