Project Team

I am a social anthropologist conducting ethnographic research primarily in the Canadian High Arctic and drawing on fields of historical anthropology, visual anthropology, oral histories, museums and material culture and the anthropology of food. I have written on the history of colonialism, the interplay between western and indigenous knowledge systems, historiography, Inuit media, and on the construction and invocation of traditions. My first book, Saqiyuq: Stories from the Lives of Three Inuit Women was written in collaboration with Apphia Agalakti Awa, Rhoda Kaukjak Katsak and Sandra Pikujaq Katsak and documented Inuit colonial history through the autobiographical stories of three generations from the same family. I continue have an interest in colonial historiography, autobiography, collaborative methodologies, and the politics and ethics of representation. 

Anna Hudson is an art historian, curator, writer and educator specializing in Canadian art, curatorial and Indigenous studies. Formerly Associate Curator of Canadian Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Hudson is now a professor in the Graduate Program in Art History, Department of Visual Art & Art History at York University.

Rhoda Katsak spent her childhood years living in Inuit hunting camps before being moved in from the land to attend Federal Day School in Iglulik. After holding various administrative positions for the Pond Inlet Hamlet, she was appointed Regional Director of Economic Development for the Government of Nunavut, a post she held from 2005-2020. Rhoda Katsak is co-author of the book Saqiyuq: Stories from the Lives of Three Inuit Women (1999), written in collaboration with her mother, Apphia Agalakti Awa, her daughter then Sandra Pikuyak Katsak, and Nancy Wachowich. Now retired, Rhoda and her husband Josh are actively involved in training  extended family members and younger generations of Inuit in Mittimatalik as hunters, seal skin seamstresses and country food cooks.

Amy is a public health nutritionist in Nunavut and has been involved with a range of initiatives related to Inuit country food, food security, diabetes education, prenatal nutrition, and zoonotic disease prevention & food safety in the Arctic.  Over the past 20 years, she has worked with – and learned from – families, Elders, hunters, researchers, health professionals and Inuit organizations across Nunavut.  Amy is a registered dietitian and holds a MSc in Human Nutrition and Metabolism (University of Aberdeen).  She recently completed a PhD in Public Health (University of Guelph) focused on Inuit country food and nutrition in early life.  Amy is of Euro-Canadian settler ancestry in rural Ontario, and now lives in Iqaluit with her family.

Dr. Jessica Penney is a Nunatsiavut Inuk Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto. Her work focuses on the relationship between Inuit health and environmental issues in Nunavut and Nunatsiavut. Jessica is interested in collaborative and creative Inuit research methodologies. She is also passionate about Inuit research ethics processes and serves on Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre’s Ethics Katimajiit and the National Inuit Ethics Review Committee.

Dr. Peter Loovers is a Dutch anthropologist and IFSNu’s Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen. Peter has worked with and has been taught by Gwich’in since 2005, and is excited to work now in Inuit Nunangat. He is interested in the Arctic, colonialism and decolonialisation, climate change, documentary making, education, filmmaking, food (in)security and sovereignty, health, imperialism, collaborative research with Indigenous Peoples, museums, philosophy. Amongst other works, he was Project Curator for the Arctic: Culture and Climate exhibition at The British Museum. His most recent publications include the monograph 'Reading Life with Gwich’in' (Routledge, 2020) and the co-edited books 'Arctic: Culture and Climate' (Thames & Hudson/The British Museum, 2020) and 'Dogs in the North' (Routledge, 2018).

Jean was born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut. She is a Senior Research Advisor at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), an Inuit organization that represents Inuit in Nunavut and ensures the implementation of the Nunavut Agreement. Jean works within NTI’s new Department of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, which is committed to advancing Inuit self-determination in research by enhancing meaningful Inuit involvement in research to address Inuit needs and priorities, incorporating Inuit ethical values, ensuring Inuit access to results, and building research capacity among Inuit in Nunavut. Jean has an undergraduate degree in Microbiology and Immunology from Dalhousie University and a Master’s in Environmental Science from the University of Toronto Scarborough. Jean has work experience in both fields and  has collaborated on various research projects relating to Inuit health and water/food safety.   She is passionate about promoting ethical research that best supports Inuit health and wellbeing.

Damian Enoogoo is from Mittimatalik. He is passionate about learning, discussing ideas and sparking dialogue that challenges both his and the other person’s perspective. He draws on filmmaking to give insight into the potential of telling a story through character, dialogue and atmosphere. He is engaged as a videographer, content producer and video-editor for the Inuksiutit project team in Mittimatalik.

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Dana Katsak was born and raised in Mittimatalik. She is a media-maker and passionate about Inuit country food research and cooking.  Dana will be Social Media Ambassador and and Digital Archivist for Mittimatalik. 

Sheila Katsak lives in the community of Mittimatalik where she currently works as a mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, wife, aunt, neighbour, craftsperson and cultural advocate.

In 2015 Sheila co-founded, with Nancy Wachowich, the Mittimatalik Arnait Miqsuqtuit Collective (MAMC) (translation: Pond Inlet Women’s Sewing Collective) which set out to create a community-based digital archive of sealskin sewing skills and to celebrate and reinvigorate the artistry and language of sealskin sewing in her community.  Sheila’s sewing-related cultural advocacy work can be seen on the MAMC website https://arnaitmiqsuqtuit.wixsite.com/mamc and vimeo channel https://vimeo.com/mamc  Her collaborative video curations —Anaanavut Qisingit: a meditation on sealskin sewing (2018), Irnivik: Airing Frame (2018), Uiguaqtuq: The Hidden Stitch(2017) Kattiqsuqsimajut: Collection (2015)– were also exhibited the Qiqiktani General Hospital (2018-2019) exhibition spaces, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the  Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino, Sámi University of Applied Sciences Finnmark, Northern Norway (2018). Her collaborative work (with Amber Lincoln) Inuit Women’s Sealskin Sewing: a film for the British museum exhibition was exhibited the British Museum’s ‘Arctic: Culture and Climate’ exhibition (2020).

Sheila is also author of three book chapters:

Anaanavut Ilisaijigiqaaqtavut Iliniarutigijavut Qisiliritigluttat: Our Mothers, Our First Teachers: Lessons from Sealskin Sewing’ (with Nancy Wachowich). In Qummut Qukiria!: Art, Culture, and Sovereignty Across Inuit Nunaat and Sápmi: Mobilizing the Circumpolar North. Hudson, A., Igloliorte, H., Lundström, J. (eds.). Goose Lane, pp. 395, 407 pages

Working with nalua: the most delicate of sealskins (with Nancy Wachowich)  In: Arctic: Culture and Climate. Lincoln, A., Cooper, J., Loovers, J. P. L. (eds.). Thames & Hudson, in collaboration with The British Museum, pp. 142-148, 7 pages. 2020

Making my Amautis.  In: Arctic: Culture and Climate. Lincoln, A., Cooper, J., Loovers, J. P. L. (eds.). Thames & Hudson, in collaboration with The British Museum, pp. 142-148, 7 pages. 2020. *This chapter was chosen as the British Museum Object in Focus blog https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/object-focus-arctic-amautis-mothers-parkas

Sheila’s key research partner on the Inuksiutit project is her sixth child, baby Samantha Katsak, who joins the IFSNu team alongside her mother as one of the Food Sovereignty Toolkit advocacy leads in Mittimatalik.  Samantha Katsak is the youngest of the Inuksiutit team and has a special research interest in Inuit food systems and community outreach activities.

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Dr Gabi Wagner is an animal physiologist working at the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy Research in Tromsø, Norway. She investigates how animals (e.g. ptarmigan, reindeer, Nordic sheep breeds) time seasonal changes such as migration, fattening, reproduction, moult, antler growth and behaviour. She currently works on Eurasian tundra reindeer (or caribou) investigating seasonal changes in sleep (Reindeer in the Arctic reduce sleep need during rumination) and metabolism (Uncoupling of behavioral and metabolic 24-h rhythms in reindeer). In her applied research she works in collaboration with Sami reindeer herders developing climate change mitigation measures (e.g. sustainably produced reindeer feed) and working on area conflicts through human disturbances such as windfarms, power lines, hut development etc. She has a particular interest in technological solutions that a potential to lighten the herders’ workload such as GPS tracking, animal mortality alerts, new methods for documenting animal losses to predators and use of drones.