Professor, Department of Anthropology, Vancouver Island University
Archaeology, ethnography, and history intersect in Marina La Salle’s research based in urban Vancouver, BC. Working towards her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Marina investigated how 'heritage' in Pacific Spirit Regional Park is constructed, communicated, and controlled by affected communities, and the role that such heritage plays in contemporary views of history. As one of our first Graduate Student Associates, Marina considered the complex links between land, tangible and intangible heritage, and culture in contested spaces. Her research demonstrated how "nature" in the park is manufactured to forget colonial violence and to feel better about ongoing environmental devastation. The heritage of Pacific Spirit is thus ideological, ultimately hindering resistance to industrial capitalism.
Marina successfully defended her dissertation titled "Escape into Nature: the Ideology of Pacific Spirit Regional Park" and completed her Ph.D. in July 2014. Her Ph.D. supervisors were UBC Professor Sue Rowley and SFU Professor George Nicholas. Sue is co-chair of the IPinCH Digital Information Systems and Cultural Heritage Working Group. George is Director of the IPinCH project. Marina had previously completed an M.A. in Anthropology at UBC and a B.A. in Archaeology at SFU.
Early on, Marina helped in the formation of the IPinCH Knowledge Base, and subsequently served as the Student Representative on the IPinCH Steering Committee from 2010-2011 and as Research Assistant for the Commodifications of Cultural Heritage Working Group in 2014. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Vancouver Island University, where she continues to pursue a critical approach in her teaching and practice of archaeology.
