I am an assistant professor of Indigenous and multicultural literatures here in the Department of English. I focus on Dene/Athabaskan languages and literatures, contemporary Indigenous literatures in the US and Canada, and comparative poetics via environmental theory and discourse analysis. I also teach digital tools for community research, data ethics, and academic writing.
I received my Ph.D. in Indigenous literary studies in the Department of English from the University of British Columbia in 2017; I then undertook three years of postdoctoral research in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Victoria, where I taught and conducted research in Indigenous-community and university settings. My focus is on community-led storywork.
I grew up in the interior of British Columbia, which is part of the rolling hills, sagey plateaus, and narrow lakes that make up the eastern side of the coastal mountains of the west. I’m thrilled to be here in the southwest, connecting, learning, teaching, researching, and writing, as well as hiking, lightweight backpacking, doing a little climbing, and doing a little cycling.
You can read a bit more about my work and find some great links to resources for Indigenous studies at jasminespencer.com.