UNews - Maura Hanrahan

Dramatic Arctic rescue story of Captain Robert Abram Bartlett the focus of PUBlic Professor Series talk

trevor.kenney — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 17:25:00 +0000

Captain Robert Abram Bartlett (1875-1946) attempted the Pole with Admiral Peary, worked to advance Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, and, in 1914, was responsible for one of the most remarkable Arctic rescues of all time. His fame extended throughout North America to Europe where he won awards and dined with royalty. Bartlett’s story mirrors that of other early 20th century explorers such as Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott, Donald MacMillan, and others.

On Thursday, October 25, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge geography professor, Dr. Maura Hanrahan, will present, Creating Heroes and Claiming the North: Captain Robert Abram Bartlett in the Arctic, as the second talk of the 2018/19 Faculty of Arts & Science’s PUBlic Professor Series. The free event runs from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Sandman Signature Lethbridge Lodge and is open to the public.

Hanrahan earned degrees at Memorial ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, Carleton ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and the London School of Economics where she was a Rothermere Fellow and an LSE Fellow. She worked in First Nations and Inuit land claims, right litigation and policy for Indigenous governments across Canada, the federal government and the UN. Later, she was Memorial ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s first Special Advisor to the President for Aboriginal Affairs and, following that, Chair of Memorial’s Humanities Program.

She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Geography at the U of L and an adjunct professor at Memorial ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Environmental Policy Institute. She was born and raised in Newfoundland. Through her mother, she is a citizen of Ireland. Through her father, she is a member of Splet’q Mi’Kmaq First Nation, now under the umbrella of Qalipu Mi’Kmaq First Nation.

Like the other explorers, Bartlett's successes in Arctic exploration were made possible by deliberate and sustained heroic masculine image-making, which masked the complexities of his personality and of his work in the Arctic. On the lecture circuit, in his books and on film, Bartlett carefully constructed a well-received image, buoyed by general understandings of the Arctic as undiscovered and devoid of any organized society. This made the Arctic a unique site for western male exploits. Its harsh environment and climate elevated the Arctic to a testing and proving ground. As explorers foregrounded themselves, they backgrounded the Inuit whose participation in Arctic expeditions was vital. This approach cost and still costs the Inuit. It cost the explorers, too; Bartlett, for one, suppressed his personal struggles as he sought to mirror the image he so successfully created.

This talk promises compelling images, gripping stories of danger and human drama, and important insights on the role Arctic exploration continues to play in Canada for the Inuit and for all Canadians.

Further talks scheduled for 2018/19 feature Dr. Amy Shaw (history), Dr. Alexander Darku (economics), Dr. Tom Johnston (geography) and Dr. Hester Jiskoot (geography). Details on each of their presentations can be found at: ulethbridge.ca/artsci/publicprofessor.

Hanrahan uncovers the persona of famed Arctic explorer in new book

trevor.kenney — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 16:11:46 +0000

In 1914, Captain Robert Abram Bartlett trekked 700 miles across the frozen Arctic Ocean to save survivors of the sunken Karluk. The episode was one of many that contributed to the Bartlett myth but, beyond his celebrity, Bartlett was a complex man who struggled to find peace. Based on extensive research by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Dr. Maura Hanrahan, her book Unchained Man: The Arctic Life and Times of Captain Robert Abram Bartlett explores Bartlett’s pivotal role in Arctic history.

Dr. Maura Hanrahan's work on the Arctic has been published in encyclopedias and journals such as Polar Geography.

“I grew up in Newfoundland where Bartlett was a hero. He has mythic status elsewhere, particularly in the United States where he spent his adult life, but I wondered about the person he really was,” says Hanrahan. “He had a life filled with adventures but I knew he had to be more than the cardboard cutout figure of so many stories and films. So, I did research in the United Kingdom, the U.S., Canada and Greenland over a decade to discover him, just as he set out to discover so-called “unknown” parts of the Arctic.”

Hanrahan is a Tier II Board of Governors Research Chair in the Department of Geography and has worked on Indigenous land claims and studied water security in Northern Canada. Her work on the Arctic has been published in encyclopedias and in journals such as Polar Geography. She has been an invited speaker on Arctic topics in Norway and Estonia. This is her 12th book.

Hanrahan’s interest in the Arctic grew out of her time in Coastal Labrador.

“I came to see how central the Inuit were in the history of the Arctic exploration. In Unchained Man, I draw from geography, history, gender studies and Indigenous studies to place Bartlett and the Inuit in context. The early 20th century, when Bartlett was active, was a remarkable and dramatic time in the exploration history.”

Hanrahan is launching her book on Saturday, June 23, 2 to 4 p.m. at Chapters Bookstore.

Hanrahan earns Parkland grant, to study water security in Metis communities

trevor.kenney — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 22:00:36 +0000

For the vast majority of Canadians, the concept of not having readily available drinking water is literally foreign – something only developing countries have to face. Unfortunately, residents of rural and remote communities, many of which are indigenous, face the problem of trying to find potable water every day of their lives.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professor Dr. Maura Hanrahan has studied this problem and is currently embarking on a research project to examine the state of water security in Métis communities in Alberta. Her work has earned her the support of the Parkland Institute as the recipient of the Parkland Institute/U of L Faculty Research Grant.

Dr. Maura Hanrahan says that residents of rural and remote communities, many of which are indigenous, face the problem of trying to find potable water every day of their lives.

“While the applications were all of a very high standard, Dr. Hanrahan's proposal to study water quality and infrastructure in Alberta’s Métis communities is especially timely,” says Dr. Trevor Harrison, director of the Parkland Institute and a professor in the Department of Sociology. “In Canada’s 150th year, it is crucial to acknowledge the disparities faced by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples, and, as with Dr. Hanrahan’s research, to work towards understanding these inequities and finding solutions.”

Hanrahan, a faculty member in the Department of Native American Studies for just over a year, has spent the majority of her professional career working with indigenous organizations. She has spent time on land claims and negotiations, helped develop health policy and as an academic, been at the forefront of research projects. Originally from Newfoundland and Labrador, she has both Irish and Mi’kmaq heritage, making the research that she does that much more personal.

“Most of my career has been responding to community needs because that is a cultural imperative. The academic piece comes out of that and I see research as a very good way to highlight issues, such as drinking water problems, that need to be brought into the open,” she says. “Water security is so basic. The United Nations recognizes it as a human right and yet Canada isn’t living up to its responsibilities in that regard.”

She has worked in communities such as Black Tickle, Labrador, an Inuit community in the Canadian sub-arctic that has no potable piped water. She describes people trying to lead productive lives but having to worry every day about whether they can access water.

“What really bothers me are the mental health implications. In some of these communities, people think about water all the time,” she says. “Water shortages are treated like an emergency when they happen in the south and in urban areas but not in rural and indigenous areas, where they are almost normalized. People are faced with these long-term boil-water orders and they get tired of it, so they begin to take chances with it.”

Her focus on the Métis population in Alberta is unique because there has been no research into the water security issues they face. With Alberta being home to more than 66,000 Métis and the only province with Métis land bases, she says the time is right to investigate their contaminated water and water access problems.

“When I looked in the literature there was absolutely nothing on Métis water security,” she says. “There has been a lot of attention to First Nations and some attention to Inuit, and that’s all good, but we also need to bring Métis into the research.”

Hanrahan’s initial work is a pilot project with Faust, a Métis-majority community near Lesser Slave Lake, with a grant application in the works to expand it to a cross-case analysis involving other sites. She’s thrilled to have the support of the Parkland Institute and to be working in partnership with the Métis Nation of Alberta.

“I’ve found in my year here that the U of L is a very supportive institution and you are given the resources you need to do your job, so the Parkland award was like the icing on the cake,” she says. “I like the work that Parkland does on policy. They’ve given me the chance to expand my research from Labrador to here in Alberta, which is something I really appreciate.”

New Take Two speaker series to focus on U of L research

caroline.zentner — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 17:34:17 +0000

As Associate Vice-President Research, Dr. Claudia Malacrida wants to demonstrate the diversity and depth of research done at a small, liberal arts institution like the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. To that end, she created a new speaker series called Take Two. Once underway, the Take Two sessions will feature two researchers who approach a topic from different perspectives.

For the inaugural talk, Malacrida will provide the community a report on the federal review panel, of which she was a member, and its findings on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 3:30 p.m. (Markin Hall Atrium). Attendees will have the opportunity to sign a petition to increase support for research funding that will be submitted to the Minister of Science, Kirsty Duncan.

Dr. Claudia Malacrida

“Part of my rationale for wanting to give this talk is to galvanize our response to the recommendations of the review panel and to garner support for the idea that fundamental research in Canada should be a level playing field for universities, regardless of their size,” says Malacrida.

Following consultations across the country, evidence gathered by the panel points to a research system that is underfed and overworked. The Alliance of Canadian Comprehensive Research Universities, to which the U of L belongs, has thrown its support behind the panel’s recommendations and is advocating for increases to annual federal spending on research and that it be distributed fairly to universities, both large and small.

The balance of the Take Two series will take a different direction, offering fresh insights on research being done at the U of L. The events will offer talks by two researchers who take different approaches to a related issue. Each researcher will have about 20 minutes to present, followed by a question-and-answer session.

“We wanted to create a novel format for the Take Two series,” says Malacrida. “We are asking these researchers to talk across disciplines in a way that will help people understand that exciting work happens here. We want to show that we have people working in all areas on campus who are contributing to our understanding of our social, cultural and physical worlds.”

The second session on Oct. 25 will focus on understanding childhood and difference. Dr. Jeffrey MacCormack (Education) conducts research on attentional issues in the classroom in children who experience difficulty socializing and regulating emotions. He’s interested in how play-based interventions can help regulate and modulate children’s behaviour in the classroom. The other speaker, Dr. Jan Newberry (Anthropology) will discuss the partnership between the U of L’s Institute for Child and Youth Studies and the Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society. Through the Raising Spirit project, they’ve been collecting stories and images for a digital storytelling library to highlight Indigenous ways of knowing and to build community capacity collaboratively.

“Despite differing approaches, both researchers’ work is not about fixing kids who don’t fit in; it’s about changing the way we think about what ‘in’ ought to look like,” says Malacrida.

The third session on Nov. 23 brings together Drs. Maura Hanrahan and Monique Giroux (Native American Studies) to talk about their research. Hanrahan examines policy, especially as it relates to the way current approaches to Indigenous health research can operate to exclude the health concerns of Métis peoples. Giroux is both a scholar and fiddler. She studies how Métis identity is produced and regulated through dramatic works, as well as through performances at fiddling contests and cultural festivals.

In the fourth talk scheduled for Feb. 1, Dr. Chris Hopkinson (Geography) will talk about his research using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors to create three-dimensional topographical maps used by governments and industries to assess flood hazards, manage wildlife habitat or create greenhouse gas strategies. Leanne Elias, a New Media professor, will talk about her experimental visualization of agricultural data, such as crop production.

“Elias visualizes those data through sound, light and visual images to produce art but also to convey information,” says Malacrida. “Both she and Hopkinson are working very different approaches to sustainability and environmental visualization.”

The fifth session of the series features Drs. Paul Vasey (Psychology) and Suzanne Lenon (Women and Gender Studies) talking about their research into gender, sex and sexuality. Vasey does fieldwork looking at both gender and sexuality in two cultures that recognize a third gender, the fa’fafine of Samoa and the muxes of the Istmo region of Oaxaca, Mexico. Lenon’s research focuses on the history and material aspects of marriage law, with respect to race, gender and sexuality, especially regarding same-sex marriage and polygamy.

Talks are scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m., with the Sept. 21 session taking place in the Markin Hall Atrium. Light refreshments will be provided and everyone is welcome to attend.

Board of Governors Research Chairs revealed

trevor.kenney — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 21:01:18 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Board of Governors appointed or reappointed seven Board of Governors Research Chairs at its regular meeting. The Board of Governors Research Chair program acknowledges the research accomplishments of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ faculty members.

“We’re proud to recognize these researchers for their consistently excellent work and the contributions they have made to their field of study,” says Dr. Erasmus Okine, Vice-President (Research). “They are representative of the outstanding research activities taking place across disciplines and throughout campus. Their studies are making substantial contributions to the quality of life locally, provincially, nationally and beyond.”

New Appointments

Dr. Aaron Gruber – Tier II Board of Governors Research Chair in Neuroscience
Dr. Gruber’s laboratory utilizes a wide array of computational and experimental techniques to study how the brain uses past experience to make good choices. The lab’s current focus is to use modern technologies for recording and manipulating large-scale neural activity to study how molecular actions of dopamine receptors affect brain dynamics to influence behaviour.

Dr. Maura Hanrahan – Tier II Board of Governors Research Chair in Native American Studies
Dr. Hanrahan brings a wealth of academic, policy and practical knowledge to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. She conducts interdisciplinary work in water security, foodways and nutrition history, Indigenous health, Indigenous land-use and Arctic exploration. Her work employs methods rooted in anthropology, ethnohistory, the humanities and Indigenous learning.

Dr. Jean-Baptiste Leca – Tier II Board of Governors Research Chair in Psychology
Dr. Leca’s research program on non-human primate behaviour aims to offer insights into the biological and culture underpinnings of human evolution. He is particularly interested in the proximate and ultimate causes of adaptive, questionably adaptive and non-adaptive behavioural patterns in free-ranging monkeys.

Reappointments

Dr. Igor Kovalchuk – Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair in Biological Sciences
The research in Dr. I. Kovalchuk’s lab is devoted to the analysis of epigenetic and genetic regulation of plant genome stability under normal and stressful conditions. In particular, he is interested in epigenetic regulation of transgenerational adaptation to stress and developing novel methods for improvement of plant transformation.

Dr. Olga Kovalchuk – Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair in Biological Sciences
Dr. O. Kovalchuk investigates the role of epigenetics in carcinogenesis and cancer treatment responses as well as the influence of epigenetics in radiation induced genome instability, DNA repair and carcinogenesis.

Dr. David Naylor – Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair in Physics & Astronomy
As the Director of the Astronomical Instrumentational Group, Dr. Naylor is recognized as a world leader in the development of novel instrumentation to explore the universe at far-infrared wavelengths. He is playing a leading role in training up-and-coming astronomers and engineers while contributing to Canada’s ability to play leading roles in future space astronomy missions.

Dr. Sergio Pellis – Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair in Neuroscience
Using a broad comparative approach, involving a range of rodents, primates and other animals, research in Dr. Pellis’ laboratory seeks to understand the evolutionary conditions that make it possible for play to be co-opted as a tool to sharpen social skills.

PUBlic Professor Series spawns a spinoff

caroline.zentner — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 20:53:05 +0000

Although Faculty of Arts & Science professors could be labelled serious, scholarly types by day, the occasion of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s 50th anniversary has given them a reason to have a little fun while still imparting their knowledge.

The PUBlic Professor Series: 5-Minute Edition, is designed to showcase the diversity of research interests within the Faculty in an entertaining format. Each of 10 professors will have five minutes and a maximum of 15 PowerPoint slides to do a presentation on their research. The slides will automatically advance every 20 seconds, requiring the speaker to keep pace.

“After five minutes is over, I’m cutting them off,” says Dr. Kevin McGeough (BA ’96), a U of L geography professor and moderator of the event. “That makes it fun because there’s a kind of panicked element to the presentation. It’s especially fun for professors because we’re not known for being concise in our comments. That lightning-fast approach makes it interesting for people to watch.”

The professors who have agreed to participate include Dr. Jay Gamble (English), Dr. René Barendregt (Geography), Dr. Sergio Pellis (Neuroscience), Dr. Ute Kothe (Biochemistry), Dr. Omar Rodriguez (Modern Languages), Dr. Jennifer Copeland (Kinesiology), Dr. Janay Nugent (History), Dr. Locke Spencer (Physics), Dr. Maura Hanrahan (Native American Studies) and Dr. Hillary Rodrigues (Religious Studies).

“One of the things we’re looking for is that these research presentations be of interest to the public and to people who aren’t specialists in the area of expertise,” says McGeough. “That matches the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s liberal education approach where we have all sorts of different disciplinary backgrounds and we all contribute to a larger conversation.”

McGeough has some experience with the format from a session he participated in at an event hosted by the U of L Faculty Association. He has a few tips for his colleagues who’ll be participating.

“Talk quickly, have a sense of what you want to say before you get up there and pick your slides well. If you lose track of where you are, good slides can cue you to get back on track or find a new track to go down,” says McGeough.

The PUBlic Professor Series: 5-Minute Edition is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. in B756 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall. McGeough says the event will be informal and people are welcome to drop in on the session even after it’s started.

“We especially hope that alumni will come and experience this event. This will be a fun way to spend the afternoon,” says McGeough, adding everyone is welcome to attend.

UNews - Maura Hanrahan

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