About

Marianne Ignace

Professor, Department of Indigenous Studies and Department of Linguistics
Director, First Nations Language Centre
Director, Indigenous Languages Program

MA, cultural anthropology, University of Göttingen
PhD, anthropology, Simon Fraser University

Dr. Ignace's research focuses on the Secwepemc (Shuswap) people of the Plateau, with interests in aboriginal land use and occupancy, ethnobotany, traditional ecological knowledge, ethnohistory, and the linguistic and anthropological analysis of Aboriginal language discourse. She has authored and co-authored papers in various journals and books on these topics, and has also carried out research in the field of Aboriginal language revitalization, some of which is published in the Handbook for Aboriginal Language Program Planning in B.C.

In recent years, she has worked with First Nations communities and elders on various language revitalization projects, including Secwepemctsin, St’at’imcets, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, Haida and Sm’algyax. Dr. Ignace completed her PhD dissertation on the politics of Haida symbols, published as The Curtain Within: Haida Social and Symbolic Discourse. She has also published articles on Haida oratory and potlatching.

Dr. Ignace has a joint appointment with Indigenous Studies and Linguistics.