Zoe Todd is a Métis anthropologist and scholar of

Indigenous studies Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

science and technology studies Science and technology studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts. History Like most interdisciplinary fie ...

and the

Anthropocene The Anthropocene ( ) is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change. , neither the International Commissio ...

. She is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

and a Presidential Visiting Fellow at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

during the 2018–19 academic year.

Early life

Todd was born to a Métis father and white settler mother in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, in 1983. She credits her father, an artist, Gary Todd's engagement with his Métis heritage as an influential factor in her scholarship; especially his art and his knowledge of fish and wildlife of the Canadian prairies. Todd is a descendant of William Todd, a 19th-century surgeon from the British Navy. She received her BSc in biological sciences and an MSc in rural sociology from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

and her PhD in social anthropology from the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

. She received the prestigious Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship in 2011 for her PhD research.

Research

Todd's research concerns human-animal relations, in particular, human-fish, relationships in the context of

Settler colonialism Settler colonialism is a structure that perpetuates the elimination of Indigenous people and cultures to replace them with a settler society. Some, but not all, scholars argue that settler colonialism is inherently genocidal. It may be enacted ...

in Canada. She is an assistant professor at

's Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She is most well known for her work on decolonizing anthropology and Indigenous perspectives on the Anthropocene. She has been a faculty at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity. In 2018, she became a Visiting Assistant Professor at

's Program in History of Science & Medicine. She has been featured on the CBC, Walrus Talks, Buzzfeed, Rabble and many others on Indigenous issues, feminism, environment, colonialism, capitalism and rape culture. Todd is also known for her artistic work, which are mostly inspired by the freshwater fish of Alberta. In 2018, she was interviewed by Sarain Fox on her work on Indigenous perspectives on the Anthropocene for the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

podcast ''Into the Anthropocene''.

Selected works

Academic works: * Todd, Zoe. (2018). ‘Refracting colonialism in Canada: fish tales, text, and insistent public grief.’ Mark Jackson, editor. ''Coloniality, Ontology, and the Question of the Posthuman.'' Routledge Press''.'' * Todd, Z. (2015). Indigenizing the Anthropocene. Pp. 241–254 in ''Art in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Aesthetics, Politics, Environment and Epistemology''. Heather Davis and Etienne Turpin, editors. Open Humanities Press. * Davis, Heather and Zoe Todd. (2017). On the importance of a date, or, decolonizing the Anthropocene. ''ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies''. * Todd, Zoe. (2017). Fish, Kin, and Hope: tending to water violations in amiskwaciwâskahikan and Treaty Six Territory. ''Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Inquiry'' 43(1): 102–107. * Todd, Zoe. (2016). ‘How do you teach about the layered colonial realities that mould a Canadian city?’ (commentary). Aboriginal Policy Studies 6(1): 90–97. (Invited piece) * Todd, Z. (2016). ‘An Indigenous Feminist’s Take on the Ontological Turn: ‘Ontology’ is just another word for colonialism’. ''Journal of Historical Sociology'' 29(1): 4-22. * Todd, Z. (2014). ‘Fish pluralities: Human-animal relations and sites of engagement in Paulatuuq, Arctic Canada’. ''Etudes/Inuit/Studies'' 38(1-2): 217–238. Other writing: * Todd, Z. (2015). Rethinking Aesthetics and Ontology through Indigenous Law: On the work of Val Napoleon and Loretta Todd. ''C Magazine'' 126: 10–17. * Todd, Z. (2014). Creating citizen spaces through Indigenous soundscapes. ''Spacing Magazine''. Published 1 October 2014 http://spacing.ca/national/2014/10/01/creating-citizen-spaces-indigenous-soundscapes/ * Todd, Z. (2013). On Scottish Independence — a Metis Perspective. ActiveHistory.ca. http://activehistory.ca/2013/12/on-scottish-independence-a-metis-perspective/ * Todd, Z. (2013). “Remembering Indigenous Edmonton: a journey through plants”. ''Spacing Edmonton''. http://spacing.ca/edmonton/2013/04/04/remembering-indigenous-edmonton-a-journey-through-plants/

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Zoe Canadian anthropologists Canadian women anthropologists Alumni of the University of Aberdeen University of Alberta alumni Carleton University faculty Artists from Edmonton Writers from Edmonton Science and technology studies scholars Métis feminists Métis in Alberta Métis artists Canadian feminist writers 1983 births Living people 21st-century anthropologists 21st-century social scientists