Gerald Taiaiake Alfred is an author, educator and activist, born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, in 1964 and raised in the community of

Kahnawake The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (french: Territoire Mohawk de Kahnawake, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, C ...

. Alfred is an internationally recognized Kanien’kehá:ka professor.

Early life and education

Alfred grew up in

and graduated from Loyola High School in Montreal. After high school, he served in the Marine Corps for three years until 1984.Faculty Page
of the Indigenous Governance Program, Faculty of Human and Social Development,

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

He then received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in History from

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

, an

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

Career

Alfred was the founding director of the Indigenous Governance Program (serving from 1999 until 2015) and was awarded a

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

2003–2007, in addition to a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in education. In 2019 he resigned from the University of Victoria in the wake of an investigation of an allegedly toxic learning environment.

Bibliography

* ''Heeding the Voices of our Ancestors : Kahnawake Mohawk Politics and the Rise of Native Nationalism'', Oxford University Press (Canada), 1995. * ''Peace, Power, Righteousness : an Indigenous manifesto'', Oxford University Press (Canada), 1999. * ''Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom'', Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2005. * ''Peace, Power, Righteousness : an Indigenous manifesto'', 2nd Ed., Oxford University Press (Canada), 2009.

References

External links

Personal web site
of Taiaiake Alfred 1964 births Living people Activists from Montreal Canadian Mohawk people Concordia University alumni Cornell University alumni First Nations activists Writers from Montreal University of Victoria faculty Canada Research Chairs Indspire Awards First Nations academics Indigenous studies in Canada 20th-century First Nations writers 21st-century First Nations writers Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke United States Marines {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub