Anthropology

Julie Pelletier

Julie Pelletier earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Michigan State University, specializing in Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes of North America with a subspecialty in medical anthropology. Her dissertation analyzed the strategic use of ritual to enhance and inform cultural identity in an Ojibwe community in Michigan, which funded her doctoral research. Most recently, she has focused on tribal casinos and economic development. Dr. Pelletier has also conducted fieldwork in New Zealand, studying Maori models of decolonized indigenous research. An award-winning teacher, she is interested in identity issues and politics in the classroom and in the decolonization of education. She joined UW in July, 2010 and is Chair of the Department of Indigenous Studies.