Associate professor (political science) Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez named a Canada Research Chair, Tier 2 (photo: CRC program)
Earlier this month, the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program announced its2017 Fall appointments, naming political scientistIsabel Altamirano-Jiménez a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Comparative Indigenous Feminist Studies. Tier 2 Chair positions recognize emerging scholars in their respective fields.
Altamirano-Jiménez joinseight other CRCs in the Faculty of Arts, which are awarded to outstanding researchers who are acknowledged by their peers to be global leaders in their fields. In awarding the CRCs, the Government of Canada seeks to attract and retain some of the world's most accomplished minds in support of cutting-edge research.
Originally from Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico, Altamirano-Jiménez received her PhD from the University of Alberta in 2006. Since then, she has worked as an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, and is an adjunct professor in Women's and Gender Studies and the Faculty of Native Studies.
Over the next five years, Altamirano-Jiménez will be working on a collaborative project examining how the impact of resource extraction and large-scale mitigation schemes is felt and experienced by Indigenous women in Canada and Mexico. International institutions such as the United Nations have expressed concern over the negative impacts of these economic development initiatives on Indigenous communities.
"Studies that focus on Indigenous women and extraction are urgently needed," she says. "At the time of unprecedented global investments in mining, oil and gas operations, this research will provide much-needed answers to critically important questions about how Indigenous demands for self-determination and people's fundamental human rights over their bodies intersect with present-day environmental challenges."
According to Altamirano-Jiménez, this research initiative offers a way of facilitating dialogue and creating forums for Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, students and community members.
"[It's about] sharing ideas and co-producing knowledge that can inform policy and transnational relationships between the global north and south."
A leading voice in the field of comparative Indigenous politics, gender and indigeneity, and Indigenous feminism, Altamirano-Jiménez is the author ofIndigenous Encounters with Neoliberalism (UBC Press, 2013) and is co-editor ofLiving on the Land: Indigenous Women Understandings of Place (AU Press, 2016). She also organizes the annual University of AlbertaIndigenous Feminisms Workshop.
Further reading:Broad spectrum of research in the Faculty of Arts supported by the CRC program (2016)