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Department of Geography

 

 

Dr Elizabeth Walsh

ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Liz is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on both contemporary and historical Indigenous-settler relations at multiple sites across the North American Arctic.

Biography

Career

  • 2024 - Present: ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, "Teaching Good Relations in the Land of Plenty: : Iñupiat and Non-Iñupiat on the North Slope of Alaska"
  • 2022-2023: Postdoctoral Research Associate, ERC "Arctic Cultures" (PI Richard Powell)

Qualifications

  • 2016-2022: PhD in Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge (King's College), UK. Thesis Title: "Like Ice Floes: Iñupiaq Sovereignty and Settler Migration on Alaska's North Slope".
  • 2015-2016: MPhil in Social Anthropology and Museums, University of Cambridge (King's College), UK. Dissertation Title: "'What are we doing?' A critical analysis of collaborative digital projects in ethnographic museums".
  • 2011-2014: BA in Anthropology, summa cum laude, Columbia University, New York, NY. Dissertation Title: "In Between Realities: Perspectives on Tomanowos and/or the Willamette Meteorite".

Awards and grants

  • 2024: ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
  • 2019: Crowther-Beynon Fund Grant, Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Cambridge
  • 2017: Cambridge University Fieldwork Fund Grant, University of Cambridge
  • 2016-2020: Cambridge International and King's College Scholarship, University of Cambridge
  • 2016: King's College Travel Award, University of Cambridge
  • 2015-2016: Gates Cambridge Scholarship, University of Cambridge
  • 2014: Dean's Prize in Anthropology, School of General Studies, Columbia University
  • 2012-2014: Ward H. Dennis Scholarship, School of General Studies, Columbia University

Research

My work explores the social, political, and economic place of the Arctic in North American nation-states' colonial pasts and presents, and I am particularly interested in the different ways in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous Arctic residents recognise meaning and value in their environments. My current research explores the erasure of Indigenous knowledges and experiences in the creation and presentation of Arctic museum collections.

Teaching

  • Undergraduate supervisor, Geography Tripos, Part II, Paper 2: "Geographies of the Arctic," Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (2021-present)
  • "Morality and the Environment." Guest lecture, HSPS Tripos, Part II, Paper SAN9: "Science and Environment," Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge (February 3, 2020, and February 5, 2021)

External activities

  • February 2022 - present: Team Lead, Coastal Resilience Community of Practice, Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee
  • November 2022 - present: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge