Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This talk focuses on contemporary identity and nation-building dynamics among the Mi’kmaw First Nation people of Eastern Canada. After providing geographic and historical context, the talk will illustrate some of the elements that have characterized Mi’kmaw identity and its construction in recent times, including recent aspects of Indigenous nationhood, or First nationhood, and nation-building in the Mi’kmaw communities of Nova Scotia. The eclectic nature – cultural, political, economic, and territorial – of First national discourse among the Mi’kmaq makes nation building a promising path toward providing better services to Mi’kmaw families and communities and, at the same time, elevates it to the status of strategic asset for reclaiming treaty and aboriginal rights to self-determination.
Featuring:
Simone Poliandri, PhD
Simone Poliandri is a cultural anthropologist specializing in Native American/First Nations Studies. He is a Professor of Anthropology and the Director of the American Studies program at Bridgewater State University (Bridgewater, MA, USA). He holds a PhD from Brown University and is an elected member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He has conducted ethnographic fieldwork among the Mi’kmaw people of the Canadian Maritimes since 2000. His publications focus on topics including First Nations identity dynamics and nation-building, Mi’kmaw residential school experiences, contemporary Aboriginal maritime harvesting, Native American ethnohistory, Indigeneity, and social science research methods.
Brought to you by:
Center for Canadian-American Studies, The Foundation for WWU & Alumni
This talk focuses on contemporary identity and nation-building dynamics among the Mi’kmaw First Nation people of Eastern Canada. After providing geographic and historical context, the talk will illustrate some of the elements that have characterized Mi’kmaw identity and its construction in recent times, including recent aspects of Indigenous nationhood, or First nationhood, and nation-building in the Mi’kmaw communities of Nova Scotia. The eclectic nature – cultural, political, economic, and territorial – of First national discourse among the Mi’kmaq makes nation building a promising path toward providing better services to Mi’kmaw families and communities and, at the same time, elevates it to the status of strategic asset for reclaiming treaty and aboriginal rights to self-determination.
Featuring:
Simone Poliandri, PhD
Simone Poliandri is a cultural anthropologist specializing in Native American/First Nations Studies. He is a Professor of Anthropology and the Director of the American Studies program at Bridgewater State University (Bridgewater, MA, USA). He holds a PhD from Brown University and is an elected member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He has conducted ethnographic fieldwork among the Mi’kmaw people of the Canadian Maritimes since 2000. His publications focus on topics including First Nations identity dynamics and nation-building, Mi’kmaw residential school experiences, contemporary Aboriginal maritime harvesting, Native American ethnohistory, Indigeneity, and social science research methods.
Brought to you by:
Center for Canadian-American Studies, The Foundation for WWU & Alumni
