Meet Our People
We are a collaboratory committed to Indigenous peoples, thought, and movements.
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DirectorDr. Maile is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) scholar, organizer, and practitioner from Maunawili, Oʻahu and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. He is finishing a book on the development of settler colonial capitalism in Hawaii, and how Kanaka Maoli (the Indigenous people of Hawaiʻi) issue gifts of sovereignty to overturn it by balancing relations between kanaka and aina—between people and the land who feeds.
As Director in Ziibiing Lab, their work focuses on the unique yet shared struggles Indigenous peoples face against colonial dispossession and for decolonization and dignified life. Dr. Maile is developing international and transnational research to balance the local and global toward unsettling a homogenization of Indigenous peoples and politics.
He enjoys cooking, karaoke, and a good cup of coffee.
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Postdoctoral FellowDr. Nikolaeva is currently working on the research project which analyzes the processes and politics of Indigenization within extractivist industry, focusing on diamonds and diamond-mining in Sakha Republic. Her second project will explore gendered knowledge in land-based education.
Dr. Nikolaeva's other research interests include politics of recognition, socialist Indigenous women’s activism, Second World feminisms, and Soviet/post-Soviet Indigenous Arctic.
She enjoys reading; her favorite genre is the Soviet-era science fiction, especially works by the Brothers Strugatsky.
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Postdoctoral FellowDr. Gardner’s work focuses on migrant justice, decolonization, and abolition. He completed his PhD in November 2021. He is currently in Australia, doing field work for his post-doc, researching migrant and Indigenous solidarity in Canada and Australia, specifically, welcoming refugees and resisting deportations. He is also writing a book about migrant activism and sanctuary organizing in Canada.
When he isn't writing, you can find him watching the Raptors, playing D&D, or plotting mischief with comrades.
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Communications CoordinatorJoanna is a first-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto. She graduated high school with a bilingual certificate in French. She can also speak Tagalog and Arabic. She hopes to continue her studies at UofT and be accepted into the Faculty of Law. Joanna is grateful for the opportunity to work amongst such admirable academics, in a safe and inclusive space.
She enjoys crocheting and watching horror movies, preferably at the same time.
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Research AssistantRiley is from Eabametoong First Nation in Northern Ontario and has lived almost all of her life around the Great Lakes. She is a PhD student in the Political Science department at UofT. She is most well known for her work on Indigenous social and political movements, such as Land Back. Her dissertation will look at the politics of reconciliation and Indigenous youth's visions of liberation.
Riley's favourite activity is walking her two dogs, Winnie and Blue.
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Knowledge Mobilization Specialist
Indira is a Peruvian Ph.D. student and fellow researcher in the Educational Leadership and Policy (ELP) program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE – UofT). She holds an M.Ed. from OISE and a Political Science B.A. from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Indira is currently a co-founder and member of the Kuskalla Abya Yala organization, an Indigenous-led nonprofit based in Canada, the USA, and Peru. She balances her studies, research, and consultancy work with advocacy and active participation in community-led organizations.
She loves outdoor activities, nature, photography, reading, and dancing.