Kim Anderson (professor) facts for kids

Kim Anderson is a Canadian professor and writer with Cree and Métis heritage. Her family history is deeply connected to Indigenous peoples in Canada. Her grandmother was the granddaughter of a Métis voyageur, and her grandfather's family had a long history of Indigenous marriages.

Growing up, Anderson traveled a lot for her work in education. After she became a mother in 1995, she started to focus her research on motherhood and what it means to be an Indigenous woman.

Today, Anderson is a professor at the University of Guelph. She is an expert on Indigenous family life, Indigenous feminism, and how Indigenous knowledge is used in cities. She also holds a special position called the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Relationships. In this role, she leads a team studying the idea of "all my relations." This is an Indigenous belief about being connected to everyone and everything.

Education and Early Career

Kim Anderson has a strong educational background. She earned her PhD in history from the University of Guelph in 2010. For her final project, she studied how traditional life teachings helped Algonquin women. She also has a Master's degree from the University of Toronto.

Before becoming a professor at Guelph, Anderson worked as a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University from 2011 to 2016. For over twenty years, she has also worked with Indigenous groups and communities, helping them with various projects.

Work as a Professor

Anderson joined the University of Guelph in 2017. As a Canada Research Chair, her goal is to bring more Indigenous culture to the university. She helps create programs like language classes, gardens for traditional foods and medicines, and special places for ceremonies.

Much of her work involves partnering with Indigenous communities. For example, she worked on a project about Indigenous men's identities. This project aimed to improve the health and well-being of Indigenous people.

Books and Writing

Kim Anderson has written and co-written several important books about Indigenous culture and identity. Some of her major works include:

• A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood
• Life Stages and Native Women: Memory, Teachings and Story Medicine ISBN: 9780887557262
• Indigenous Men and Masculinities: Legacies, Identities, Regeneration
• Mothers of the Nations: Indigenous Mothering as Global Resistance, Reclaiming and Recovery

She also helped edit a book of Anishinaabe poetry and art called Injichaag: My Soul in Story: Anishinaabe Poetics in Art and Words ISBN: 9780887558993.

Activism and Art

Anderson is a co-founder of the Kika'ige Historical Society. This is a group that uses performance art to challenge common stories about Canadian history. They want to highlight Indigenous perspectives and knowledge.

The group was formed in 2015 when Anderson and another professor, Lianne Leddy, protested a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald at Wilfrid Laurier University. They dressed in prisoner outfits and sat by the statue for several days to draw attention to the difficult parts of his history with Indigenous peoples. The Kika'ige Historical Society also created a painting called the "Grannies of Confederation" to show how Indigenous histories have often been left out of Canada's story.