Counter-mapping the Blackfoot Homeland
The Faculty of Arts invites you to the semi-annual Retirees Research Series, presented in partnership with the University of Calgary Retirees Association.
The Faculty of Arts invites you to the semi-annual Retirees Research Series, presented in partnership with the University of Calgary Retirees Association. This session explores how Indigenous understandings of place can reshape conventional approaches to archaeology and history.Counter-mapping the Blackfoot Homeland examines how oral traditions, place names, and archaeological evidence together reveal a culturally inscribed landscape that extends beyond Western mapping traditions. Drawing on more than 30 years of collaborative research with Blackfoot knowledge keepers, Gerald and Joy Oetelaar explore the concept of counter-mapping and its role in reconnecting Blackfoot communities with their homeland while offering new perspectives on the relationship between landscape, memory, and cultural heritage. The presentation also highlights the importance of collaborative, community-engaged research in developing a richer understanding of Blackfoot history and the enduring connections between people, place, and knowledge.SpeakersDr. Gerald Anthony Oetelaar is an archaeologist whose research focuses on the archaeology and Indigenous history of the Canadian Plains. For more than three decades, he has collaborated with Blackfoot Elders and knowledge keepers to develop approaches that integrate archaeological evidence with oral traditions and Indigenous ways of knowing.Dr. Joy Oetelaar is a historian and long-time research collaborator whose work examines the historical and cultural landscapes of the Blackfoot homeland. Together, Gerald and Joy have worked closely with Blackfoot communities to explore how oral histories, place names, and archaeological records can be brought together to better understand and interpret the region's past.
Sustainability Hive (MT 116)
Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. to Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 3:30 p.m. (Calgary time)
Last checked: 2026-09-27T05:23:54.511Z