Announcing Dr. Dawn Martin-Hill as a 2022 Jarislowsky Fellow

We are excited to announce that Dr. Dawn Martin-Hill will be joining us as a 2022 Jarislowsky Fellow!

Dawn Martin-Hill is Mohawk and resides at Six Nations with her family. She was the first Indigenous cultural anthropologist in Canada and continues to break barriers in education and research. She founded the Indigenous Studies Program at McMaster University as a graduate student 1992 and a recipient of a Canada U.S Fulbright Award. Her work with Elders from across Turtle Island since 1990 has influenced her development of Indigenous knowledge in academia and research. She is a longtime advocate of Indigenous knowledge within her university, including securing federal tri-council funding, and peer-reviewed funding of Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing research.

Martin-Hill's primary research over three decades is working with community, women, environment and developing capacity with youth. Her current research includes Haudenosaunee access to clean water, traditional ecological knowledge and creating bilingual tools (apps, virtual reality, water sensors, Indigenous mapping, learning platforms, film, art) to increase capacity in water monitoring and governance in her community of Six Nations. Her specific research interests in traditional knowledge naturally highlights solutions in improving quality of life through attention to environmental health, gender, governance, and Indigenous knowledge.

She holds numerous research grants, including Co-Creation of Indigenous Water Quality Tools, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Training & Co-Creation of Mixed Method Tools — all rebranded as Ohneganos. Active on multiple social media platforms, her youth led Ohneganos "Water is Life" podcast just won a David Suzuki Ground Up People’s Choice award. She’s led numerous community research grants, a SSHRC grant for “Preserving Haudenosaunee language and ceremonies through the digitization and translation of the Hewitt Collection” in community partnership Six Nations Polytechnic. A CIHR-IIPH Haudenosaunee research teams , “Tehtsitehwa: kenrotka: we (together we pull it from the earth again) – The Ohero:kon youth Health Intervention”, with Akwasasne and Six Nations, focusing on rites of passage program for youth as a nation building strategy.

Martin-Hill has been publishing Indigenous knowledge research since 1992, including her first book, Indigenous Knowledge & Power: the Lubicon Lake Nation (1997).  She has numerous peer reviewed publications and informal community publications. She has produced three educational films on Haudenosaunee healing historical trauma, decolonization, gender, MMIW and reclamation of lands. Her work has always focused on cultural survival and elevating Haudenosaunee knowledge and voices. Tthe grandmother of eight, she is focused on creating bi-lingual resources in science and technology for advancing Haudenosaunee language and thought in service to the future generations.

We look forward to working with Dr. Dawn Martin-Hill in our Winter 2022 term of the Global Engagement Seminar.