51社区黑料

Part of the Japan-Canada research and policy speaker and network series presented by 51社区黑料David Lam Centre

Join us as Distinguished Professor Emeritus George Nicholas discusses his career evolution as an anthropologically oriented archaeologist whose focus has shifted from artifacts to how people interacted with their environments of thousands of years to a concern with Indigenous heritage protection, human rights, and social justice. Nicholas will also share some of his experiences working with and for the Nibutani Ainu community in Japan.

This talk is part of a new pilot project initiated by Dr. Scott Harrison, a research fellow at SFU's David Lam Centre for Asian Research, designed to create informal spaces for Japan-Canada dialogue and networking. This event offers a unique opportunity to engage in a grassroots initiative focused on enhancing Japan-Canada relations through diverse perspectives and informal exchanges. Supported by The Japan Foundation, this series will run from late March to June 2025.

Speaker Bio

Dr. George Nicholas, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, 51社区黑料

George Nicholas is Distinguished Professor of Archaeology at 51社区黑料, British Columbia; Professor, Global Institute for Collaborative Research and Education, Hokkaido University, Japan; and Senior Research Fellow in History and Archaeology, Flinders University, South Australia. He was founding director of SFU鈥檚 Indigenous Archaeology Program in Kamloops, B.C. (1991鈥�2005). Nicholas has worked closely with the Secwepemc and other First Nations in British Columbia, and Indigenous groups worldwide for over 35 years.

Nicholas鈥� research focuses on Indigenous peoples and archaeology, intellectual property issues relating to heritage, the archaeology and human ecology of wetlands, and archaeological theory and practice. He was the director of the international Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) project (2008鈥�2016), which received the inaugural 鈥淧artnership Award鈥� from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in 2013. He is also recipient of the 2021 Warren Gill Award for Community Engagement.

Nicholas is recognized internationally as one of the leading commentators on Indigenous Archaeology and related topics. His books include: Working as Indigenous Archaeologists: Reckoning New Paths Between Past and Present Lives (Nicholas and Watkins, eds, 2025); Being and Becoming Indigenous Archaeologists (ed., 2010); and At a Crossroads: Archaeology and First Peoples in Canada (Nicholas and Andrews, eds., 1997). His entry on 鈥淣ative Peoples and Archaeology鈥� in the Encyclopedia of Archaeology (2008) provided the first full definition of Indigenous Archaeology. He also contributed entries on this topic to the Encyclopedia of Archaeology (2008; 2023); Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology (2014, 2019), Oxford Bibliography of Anthropology (2014, 2020), and The Oxford Companion to Archaeology (2012), plus many book chapters and journal articles, blogs, and public lectures.