Academic Background

Ph.D., History, University of Guelph

M.A., Adult Education/Sociology and Equity Studies, OISE/University of Toronto

B.A., English Literature, University of Toronto

Biography

I am a Cree/Métis writer and educator, with roots in western Canada but born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. I’ve always been interested in education, and have worked in literacy, cross-cultural education (with Canada World Youth), educational tourism, and community based education with Indigenous peoples. This work afforded me plenty of travel in my youth, for which I am grateful! I became a mother in 1995, which propelled me into a new phase both personally and professionally, and I began to research and write about motherhood and culture-based understandings of Indigenous womanhood.  Since that time I have become known as an advocate of Indigenous women and families, and I continue to do community engaged research and teaching in this area. Prior to taking a faculty position at Wilfrid Laurier University, I worked for over fifteen years doing social and health policy consulting for Indigenous communities and organizations. As a historian, I have been focused on documenting the genius and beauty of non- patriarchal, kin-centric Indigenous societies, and then strategizing around reclaiming these ways as part of decolonization and healing.

Research and Teaching Interests

Health and well-being of Indigenous families
Gender and Indigenous peoples
Indigenous feminism
Indigenous masculinities
Community-based Indigenous research
Oral history and Indigenous knowledge translation
Indigenous environmental knowledge

Most of my research and writing has been concerned with Indigenous women and the health and well-being of Indigenous families. In addition to my books on Indigenous women’s identities, I have written book chapters and journal articles covering the subjects of Indigenous motherhood, Indigenous feminism, Indigenous women and governance, Indigenous family well-being, and health research ethics in Indigenous communities. After twenty years of research and community engagement with Indigenous women and children, I have recently begun to look at Indigenous masculinities. I’m the Principal Investigator on a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant entitled “Biidwewidam Indigenous Masculinities” (www.indigenousmasculinities.com), and am enjoying networking with other scholars and community members on this subject. Most recently, I have been learning about Indigenous environmental knowledge. I am a lead researcher on project in collaboration with faculty from the School of Engineering, University of Guelph, and Department of Sociology, Nipissing University on sustainable wastewater systems in First Nations communities. This project involves looking at Indigenous culture-based approaches to water.

Selected Publications

Books

Anderson, Kim. Life Stages and Native Women: Memory, Teachings, and Story Medicine. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2011.

Anderson, Kim and Bonita Lawrence, Eds. Strong Women Stories: Native Vision and Community Survival, Toronto: Sumach Press, 2003.

Anderson, Kim. A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood. Toronto: Sumach/Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2000.

Chapters in Books

Anderson, Kim, Robert Alexander Innes and John Swift. “Indigenous Masculinities: Carrying the Bones of our Ancestors.” In Christopher Greig and Wayne Martino, Eds. Canadian Men and Masculinities: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2012.

Anderson, Kim and Jessica Ball. “Foundations: The Aboriginal Family.” In David Long and Olive Dickason, Eds., Visions of the Heart: Canadian Aboriginal Issues, 3^rd Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Anderson, Kim. “Establishing Ethics in Community Arts Practice.” In Devora Neumark and Johanne Chagnon, Eds. Affirming Collaboration: 69 Community and Activist Art Projects in Québec and Beyond. Montréal: Engrenage Noir / LEVIER and Lux Éditeur, 2011.

Anderson, Kim. “Native Women, The Body, Land, and Narratives of Contact and Arrival.” In Hester Lessard, Jeremy Webber and Rebecca Johnson, Eds. Storied Communities:  The Role of Narratives of Contact and Arrival in Constituting Political Community. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010.

Anderson, Kim. “Affirmations of an Indigenous Feminist.” In Cheryl Sumack, Shari Hundorf, Jeanne Perreault, and Jean Barman, Eds. Indigenous Women and Feminism:
Politics, Activism, Culture. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010.

Anderson, Kim. “Leading by Action: Female Chiefs and the Political Landscape.” In Gail Guthrie Valaskakis, Madeleine Dion Stout and Eric Guimond, Eds., Restoring the Balance: First Nations Women, Community and Culture. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2009.

Anderson, Kim and Ellen Gabriel. “An Interview with Katsi’tsakwas, Ellen Gabriel of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation, Turtle Clan.” In Patricia A. Monture and Patricia D. McGuire, Eds. First Voices: An Aboriginal Women’s Reader. Toronto: Inanna Publications, 2009.

Anderson, Kim. “Giving Life to the People: An Indigenous Ideology of Motherhood.” In Andrea O’Reilly, Ed., Maternal Theory: Essential Readings. Toronto: Demeter Press, 2007.

Anderson, Kim. “New Life Stirring: Mothering, Transformation and Aboriginal Womanhood.” In Jeanette Corbiere Lavell and Dawn Memee Lavell, Eds. “Until our Hearts are on the Ground:" Aboriginal Mothering: Oppression, Resistance and Transformation. Toronto: Demeter Press, 2006.

Refereed Journal Articles

Dayoud, Nihaya, Ketan Shankardass, Patricia O’Campo, Kim Anderson and Ayman K. Agbaria. “Internal Displacement and Health Among the Palestinian Minority in Israel.” Social Science and Medicine. (Available on-line, February, 2012: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.12.041).

Anderson, Kim, Barbara Clow and Margaret Haworth-Brockman. “Carriers of Water: Aboriginal Women’s Experiences, Relationships, and Reflections.” Journal of Cleaner Production. (Available on-line, November 2011: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/jclepro.2011.10.023).

Anderson, Kim. “The Mother Country: Tracing Intersections of Motherhood and the National Story in Recent Canadian Historiography.” Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal/ Revue d'etudes sur les femmes. 31.1, 2009.

Anderson, Kim. “Notokwe Opikiheet/Old-Lady Raised: Aboriginal Women’s Reflections on Ethics and Methodologies in Health Research.” Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme, Special Indigenous Womens’ Issue. 27.1 (Winter), 2009.

2012-2013 Teaching

CT 400 D: The Medicine Garden
CT/ID 120: Indigenous People in a Contemporary World