Welcome to the first inaugural of “CASCA Presents”, the new initiative of the Canadian Anthropology Society!
In a healing, multi-modal way, “CASCA Presents” promotes the research, advocacy and activism of its members: CASCA members represent the best of Canadian anthropology. Our community is rich and diverse, made up of researchers, practitioners, artists and activists, whose work speaks to the power of anthropology – in its broadest formulation – to ask the following questions and answer questions of vital importance.
Over the coming months, “CASCA Presents” will highlight and celebrate the contributions of members working inside and outside Canada.
In this article, Lindsay Bell shares her collaboration with artist-photographer Jesse Colin Jackson in the Northwest Territories.
From a static vantage point atop a seventeen-story tower overlooking the Hay River, Bell and Jackson’s “Mackenzie Place” project captured millions of still images over a five-year period. From an ethnographic point of view, they illustrate the social and seasonal changes that mark the life of the community and characterize its ebb and flow. Initially launched as an installation in 2023, their project uses a multi-channel time-lapse film that brings to life the Canadian North as “heterogeneous, complex and evolving”. Innovative and pragmatic, their project challenges preconceptions that the Canadian Arctic is either “a place of extreme fragility, or one of unlimited opportunity”.
Bell’s post evocatively reflects their process and goals. It poses essential questions about the nature of ethnographic production and representation, and highlights the logistical challenges facing our craft. Bell also calls on contemporary anthropological associations, and academia in general, to be more supportive of work that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of anthropology.
We thank Lindsay Bell and Jesse Colin Jackson for sharing their work with us!
CASCA members of all backgrounds, professional statuses and affiliations are warmly invited to share their academic, engaged and professional updates and news for profiling by “CASCA Presents”. Contributions in English and French can include recent publications as well as a wide range of other products, such as podcast episodes or interviews (for an article, special issue, book or research promotion), lectures, guest lectures and even debates, seminars and workshops, all with the participation or help of members. So don’t hesitate to share your creativity with us.
Proposals should be sent by e-mail to CASCA Executive Coordinator Anastasiia Mykolenko (membership@anthropologica.ca).