Julie Pelletier

 

Julie Pelletier, Associate Professor and Director of the Aboriginal Governance Program, is a descendant of the Wesget Sipu Fish River Tribe of northern Maine. She earned her Ph.D. and MA in Cultural Anthropology at Michigan State University and was the first graduate student at MSU whose doctoral research was funded by a tribe, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

She has conducted fieldwork in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with the Anishinaabeg and in Aotearoa/New Zealand with the Maori. Her research interests include decolonization, identity issues, representation and ritualization. Most recently her research has focused on American Indian casino gaming as site of contestation. She was a founder and coordinator of the American Indian Studies program at the University of Minnesota-Morris, where she was an associate professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies.

At UWinnipeg, she is teaching the foundation course this year, which she considers a wonderful opportunity to interact with the incoming cohort of Aboriginal Governance students, some of whom may eventually graduate with an MA in Aboriginal Governance.