Dr. Jo-Ann Episkenew
Director & Co-Principal Investigator
Professor of English
First Nations University of Canada (on leave)

tel: (306) 337-3318
fax:(306) 585-5694
jo-ann.episkenew@uregina.ca

Iskwêw ka-wasaka pîkiswêt niya. Kishchee tey mo’yawn aen li Michif wi’yan. My name is Jo-Ann Episkenew, and I am a Métis woman originally from Manitoba but long-time resident of Saskatchewan.  I am a Professor of English at the First Nations University of Canada but have taken a leave of absence to serve at the Indigenous Peoples’ Health Research Centre.  I live in Regina with my husband, Clayton, and Ethan and Paulina, two of my grandchildren.  As an English Prof., I am not your typical health researcher, but then I’m not your typical English Prof. either.  I am very interested in studying the connection between story and healing and in applying my skills in literary analysis—a close reading of the text—to my work with Indigenous youth.

EDUCATION:

• B.A. with distinction - SIFC/University of Regina
• Honours Certificate - SIFC/University of Regina
• M.A. - University of Regina
• Ph.D. magna cum laude - Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität,Greifswald, Germany

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION AND RESEARCH INTERESTS:

• Indigenous Literature of Canada and the U.S
• Literature and Trauma
• Literature and Public Policy                                                    
• Applied Literatures
• Aboriginal Youth Health                                   
• Theatre and Health

SELECTED RESEARCH GRANTS:

Principal Investigator, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Operating Grant, Assess, Redress, Re-assess: Addressing Disparities in Respiratory Health Among First Nations People- $1,592,521 (2012 to 2017).

Co-Investigator, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Dissemination Events, Community-based Health Research Summer Institute - $14,000 (2011).

Co-Investigator, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Team Grant:  Violence, Gender, and Health,A two-pronged service and community mobilization intervention to reduce gender-based violence and HIV vulnerability in rural South Africa- $1,466,160(2011-16).

Co-Investigator, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Operating Grant:  Aboriginal Mental Health and/or Addictions Research, PL³A³Y - Positive Leadership, Legacy, Lifestyle, Attitudes, & Activities for Aboriginal Youth- $60,982 (2011).

Co-Investigator, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Operating Grant:  Ethics, Technologies of potential change: Tracking the impact of Saskatchewan's Child Welfare Reform using theoretical and applied ethics- $236,839 (2011-2014).

Principal Investigator, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Operating Grant - Network Environment in Aboriginal Health Research - $9,280,961 (October 1^st, 2010, to September 30^th, 2012). 

Co-Applicant, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Leaders Opportunity Fund, Indigenous Community-Based Health Research Laboratories - $148,459 (2010-13).

Nominated Principal Investigator, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Operating Grant, Development of Aboriginal Youth Health Leadership Through Theatre -  $357,842 (October 1^st, 2009, to April 30^th, 2013).

SELECTED SCHOLARSHIP:

Books

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  Taking Back Our Spirits:  Indigenous Literature, Public Policy, and Healing.  Winnipeg:  U Manitoba P, 2009.  (Short-listed for three Saskatchewan Book Awards & Winner of the Scholarly Writing Award in 2009.  Winner of the First Peoples’ Writing Award in 2010.)

Eigenbrod, Renate and Jo-Ann Episkenew, eds.  Creating Community:  A Roundtable on Aboriginal Literatures.  Brandon & Penticton:  Bearpaw and Theytus, 2002.

Selected Publications

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  Afterward.  Special Edition of English Studies in Canada on Aboriginal Redress 35.1 (2010).  Print.

“Living and Dying with the Madness of Colonial Policies: The Aesthetics of Resistance in Daniel David Moses’ Almighty Voice and His Wife.” What is Your Place? Indigeneity and Immigration in Canada.   Ed. Hartmut Lutz with Thomas Rafico Ruiz. Beiträge zur Kanadistik, Band 14. Shriftenreihe der Gesselschaft für Kanada-Studien. Germany: Weβner-Verlag, 2007.

Proceedings, Book Chapters, Contributions to a Collective Work

Goulet, Linda, Jo-Ann Episkenew, Warren Linds, and Karen Arnason. “Rehearsing with Reality: Exploring Health Issues with Aboriginal Youth Through Drama.” Popular Political Theatre and Performance: Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English. Ed. Julie Salverson. Toronto, ON: Playwrights Canada Press, 2010. Print.

Linds, Warren, Felice Yuen, Linda Goulet, Jo-Ann Episkenew, and Karen Arnason. “Exploring and Recreating Indigenous Identity Through Theatre-based Workshops.” Children Under Construction: Critical Essays on Play as Curriculum. Ed. Drew Chappell. Peter Lang, 2010. Print.

Goulet, Linda, Jo-Ann Episkenew, Warren Linds, and Karen Arnason. “Rehearsing with Reality: Exploring Health Issues with Aboriginal Youth Through Drama.” Passion for Action: Building on the Strength and Innovative Changes in Child and Family Services – Voices from the Prairies. Regina: Canadian Plains P, 2009. Print.

Episkenew, Jo-Ann. “Contemporary Indigenous Literature in Canada: Healing from Historical Trauma.” Indigeneity: Culture and Interpretation. G.N. Devy, Geoffrey V. Davis and K. K. Chakravarty,eds. Andhra Pradesh, India: Orient Blackswan, 2008. Print.

Articles in Professional or Cultural Journals Without Review Committee

Episkenew, Jo-Ann. Indigenizing University Administration or Tâwaw Cî? (Take 2). In Equity matters: Fedcan blog, 2011. Web.

Episkenew, Jo-Ann and Deanna Reder. “Tâwaw cî?: Aboriginal Faculty, Students, and Content in the English Department.” Academic Matters: The Journal of Higher Education, 2008. Web.

Episkenew, Jo-Ann. Aboriginal Public Policy Through Literary Eyes.” Inroads: A Journal of Opinion. April 2001. Print.

SELECTED INVITED PRESENTATIONS:

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  “Podiumsdiskussion mit kanadischen Gästen.”  Rethinking Post/Colonialism.  32^nd Annual Conference of the German Association for Canadian Studies (GKS).  Grainau, DE, 27 February 2011. 

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  “Neo-colonial Canada:  Colonizing Indigenous Imaginations.”  Rethinking Post/Colonialism.  32^nd Annual Conference of the German Association for Canadian Studies (GKS).  Grainau, DE, 26 February 2011. 

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  “Women Worth Remembering.”  Forgotten? Women:  Gendered Violence, Race and Representation.  Green College Principal’s Series, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 2 November 2010.   

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  “Residential School, Trauma, and Healing.” Cultures of Differences: national/ indigenous / historical. The International Association for Philosophy and Literature. University of Regina, Saskatchewan. 24-30 May 2010.

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  “Indigenous Women’s Collaborative Healing through Storytelling and Poetry.”  Canada in the Americas:  Democratic Vistas and Discursive Perspectives from Tribal to Global.  University of Greifswald, Greifswald, DE.  7 May 2010.

Episkenew, Jo-Ann. “How Do We Heal Our Resentments When We Have So Much to Resent?”  Peter Wall Centre for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.  25 October 2009. 

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  “Curing the Colonial Contagion:  Indigenous Literatures as Applied Literatures.”  Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.  3 July 2009. 

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  “Indigenous Literature in Canada:  Healing from Historical Trauma.”  Chotro Conference on Janajati Languages, Cultures, and Literatures.  Indira Ghandi National Centre for the Arts:  5 January 2007.

Episkenew, Jo-Ann.  “Healing from Historical Trauma:  Strength of Indian Women.”  Days of Canadian Culture.  University of Silesia:  10 May 2007.

Episkenew, Jo-Ann. “Developing Healthy Decision-Making with Aboriginal Youth Through Drama.”  Indigeneity and Immigration:  A Canadian Studies Conference.  Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University.  17 June 2006.

Episkenew, Jo-Ann. “Self-Governance and Gender Equity:  Say fareWel, Ladies.”  Indigenous Women:  Culture, Activism, and Politics.  University of Alberta.  25 August 2005.

PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT:

• Chotro International Consultative Group
• Advisory Committee on Federal Judicial Appointments for the Province of Saskatchewan
• Aboriginal Health Research Network Executive
• Lung Association for Saskatchewan Board of Directors
• Editorial Board of Postcolonial Text
• Canadian Association of Commonwealth Literatures and Language Studies (Member and former Prairie Region Representative)
• Association for Bibliotherapy and Applied Literatures (Member and Past President)

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

• Member of the Regina Riel Métis Council
• Member of the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Women's Circle