Zoe Todd facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Zoe Todd
Born	1983
Nationality	Canadian, Métis
Education	University of Alberta, University of Aberdeen
Occupation	anthropologist, professor, artist
Awards	Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship
Scientific career
Institutions	Carleton University, Banff Centre, Yale University
Influences	Vanessa Watts, Leroy LittleBear, Kim TallBear, Natasha Myers, Donna Haraway, Val Napoleon, Loretta Todd
Influenced	Kim TallBear, Natasha Myers, Donna Haraway

Zoe Todd is a Métis anthropologist, a scientist who studies human societies and cultures. She is also a scholar of Indigenous studies, which focuses on the history and experiences of Indigenous peoples. Zoe Todd also studies how humans and animals interact (called human-animal studies), and how science and technology affect society. She also looks at the Anthropocene, which is the current time period where human activities have a big impact on Earth.

She is a professor at Simon Fraser University in the Department of Indigenous Studies. She was also a special visiting scholar at Yale University during the 2018–19 school year.

Early Life and Education

Zoe Todd was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1983. Her father is Métis and an artist, and her mother is a white settler. Zoe says her father's interest in his Métis background greatly influenced her work. She especially learned from his art and his knowledge about fish and wildlife in the Canadian prairies.

Zoe Todd earned her first degree in biological sciences from the University of Alberta. She then got a master's degree in rural sociology from the same university. Later, she completed her PhD in social anthropology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. In 2011, she received a special scholarship called the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship for her PhD research.

Research and Work

Zoe Todd's research often looks at how people and animals, especially fish, connect. She studies these relationships in Canada, focusing on how Settler colonialism has affected them. Settler colonialism is when people from one place move to another land and take control, often changing the lives of the original inhabitants.

She has been a professor at Carleton University in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Zoe Todd is well-known for her ideas on how to make anthropology more inclusive of Indigenous perspectives. She also explores Indigenous views on the Anthropocene, which is the idea that humans are now the main force changing the planet.

Zoe Todd has also taught at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity. In 2018, she became a visiting professor at Yale University.

She has shared her ideas on many platforms, including the CBC and Walrus Talks. She talks about important topics like Indigenous issues, how people treat the environment, and how colonialism and capitalism affect society.

Zoe Todd is also an artist. Her artwork is often inspired by the freshwater fish found in Alberta. In 2018, she was interviewed by Sarain Fox for a podcast from the Art Gallery of Ontario. In this interview, she discussed her work on Indigenous perspectives on the Anthropocene.

Selected Works

Zoe Todd has written many articles and papers. Here are a few examples of her academic and other writings:

• Todd, Zoe. (2018). 'Refracting colonialism in Canada: fish tales, text, and insistent public grief.' This work is part of a book called Coloniality, Ontology, and the Question of the Posthuman.
• Todd, Z. (2015). Indigenizing the Anthropocene. This chapter is in the book Art in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Aesthetics, Politics, Environment and Epistemology.
• Davis, Heather and Zoe Todd. (2017). On the importance of a date, or, decolonizing the Anthropocene. This article appeared in ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies.
• Todd, Zoe. (2017). Fish, Kin, and Hope: tending to water violations in amiskwaciwâskahikan and Treaty Six Territory. This article was published in Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Inquiry.
• Todd, Z. (2016). ‘An Indigenous Feminist’s Take on the Ontological Turn: ‘Ontology’ is just another word for colonialism’. This paper was in the Journal of Historical Sociology.
• Todd, Z. (2014). ‘Fish pluralities: Human-animal relations and sites of engagement in Paulatuuq, Arctic Canada’. This article was published in Etudes/Inuit/Studies.

Other writing:

• Todd, Z. (2015). Rethinking Aesthetics and Ontology through Indigenous Law: On the work of Val Napoleon and Loretta Todd. This was in C Magazine.
• Todd, Z. (2014). Creating citizen spaces through Indigenous soundscapes. This article was published in Spacing Magazine.
• Todd, Z. (2013). On Scottish Independence — a Metis Perspective. This piece was on ActiveHistory.ca.
• Todd, Z. (2013). “Remembering Indigenous Edmonton: a journey through plants”. This article appeared in Spacing Edmonton.