Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Thinking alongside lakes, snow and ice, this evocative lecture by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson uses story to create a decolonial space for us to come together and imagine futures beyond our present moment. Theory of water draws on the natural world as a map, a theorist and a teacher and draws the audience into a communal space of dreaming and remembering to refuse our colonial present and collaborate to reworld with systems of care.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (leannesimpson.ca/) is a renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg musician, writer and academic. She is the author of eight books, including A Short History of the Blockade and the novel Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies which was short listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction and the Dublin Literary Prize. Her collaboration with Robyn Maynard, Rehearsals for Living, is a National Best Seller and was short listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. Leanne’s new work, Theory of Water is a national best seller and was shortlisted for the Writers Trust prize for non-fiction. Leanne has lectured and taught extensively at universities across Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe and has over twenty years experience with Indigenous land based education. Leanne is also a musician. Her latest release Live Like the Sky is out now from You’ve Changed Records. Leanne holds a PhD from the University of Manitoba and is a member of Alderville First Nation.
The Robert and Patricia Duncanson Lecture Series supports an annual lecture in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities offered through the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities. While the lecture is open to the entire University community, it is a key component of the SASAH Speakers’ Series and a vital part of our program’s curriculum. Learn more here: uwo.ca/arts/news-events/annual-lecture-series/duncanson.html
Recorded on 12 March 2026.
Thinking alongside lakes, snow and ice, this evocative lecture by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson uses story to create a decolonial space for us to come together and imagine futures beyond our present moment. Theory of water draws on the natural world as a map, a theorist and a teacher and draws the audience into a communal space of dreaming and remembering to refuse our colonial present and collaborate to reworld with systems of care.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (leannesimpson.ca/) is a renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg musician, writer and academic. She is the author of eight books, including A Short History of the Blockade and the novel Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies which was short listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction and the Dublin Literary Prize. Her collaboration with Robyn Maynard, Rehearsals for Living, is a National Best Seller and was short listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. Leanne’s new work, Theory of Water is a national best seller and was shortlisted for the Writers Trust prize for non-fiction. Leanne has lectured and taught extensively at universities across Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe and has over twenty years experience with Indigenous land based education. Leanne is also a musician. Her latest release Live Like the Sky is out now from You’ve Changed Records. Leanne holds a PhD from the University of Manitoba and is a member of Alderville First Nation.
The Robert and Patricia Duncanson Lecture Series supports an annual lecture in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities offered through the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities. While the lecture is open to the entire University community, it is a key component of the SASAH Speakers’ Series and a vital part of our program’s curriculum. Learn more here: uwo.ca/arts/news-events/annual-lecture-series/duncanson.html
Recorded on 12 March 2026.
