Aynur Kadir (Director)
Afifiliation(s)
Assistant Professor | Lifeways in Indigenous Asia
Aynur Kadir is an Indigenous Uyghur scholar, filmmaker, and curator with a research focus on the documentation, conservation, and revitalization of Indigenous cultures and languages. Her work bridges the gap between Indigenous studies in Canada and in Asia. Her research interests are in global indigeneity from the Uyghur in China to Coast Salish and Six Nations in Canada; transnational Indigenous diplomacy; and the safeguarding and revitalization of languages and cultural heritage through digital technology and collaborative initiatives. As the co-leader and co-founder of CoDHerS, she spearheads collaborative efforts to bridge digital media with Indigenous research and storytelling.
Mark Turin (Research Associate)
Affiliation(s)
Associate Professor | Department of Anthropology
Mark Turin (PhD, Linguistics, Leiden University, 2006) is an anthropologist, linguist, occasional radio presenter, and an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia. He is cross-appointed between the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Department of Anthropology. Mark Turin writes and teaches on language reclamation, revitalization, documentation, and conservation; language mapping, policies, politics, and language rights; orality, archives, digital tools, and technology. Indigenous methodologies and decolonial practice inform and shape his teaching and research.
Christina Laffin (Research Associate)
Affiliation(s)
Associate Professor | Premodern Japanese Literature and Culture
Dr. Christina Laffin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Studies and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Advisor in the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation at the University of British Columbia. She researches women’s writing, travel literature, and the processes of education and socialization in premodern Japan. She has worked on equity and knowledge sharing for an eight-year project on East Asian religions, collaborated with graduate students to produce videos on premodern Japan, and is currently leading a research cluster representing travel culture in early modern Japan through digital contextualization of a seventeenth-century manuscript.