Brian Thom

Contact Information

Brian Thom
Assistant Professor
Email:

Languages: English
Website:
http://anthropology.uvic.ca/people/faculty/thom.php
Departments:
Anthropology

Research Information

Research Description

- Aboriginal rights, title and governance
- Intellectual property and Indigenous peoples
- Customary legal systems
- Landscape, nature, and studies of place
- Oral narrative and life history
- Northwest Coast
- Coast Salish Peoples
- Applying anthropology to public policy

Expertise Profile

Dr. Brian Thom has worked for over 15 years in British Columbia as a researcher, senior adviser and negotiator for Coast Salish Indigenous communities involved in land claims.

Much of this work has been in the BC Treaty Process, where Dr. Thom worked with First Nations groups in the negotiation room itself.

He has supported their efforts to establish new governance institutions, to resolve long-standing disputes about land title, and to promote the recognition of Aboriginal and Indigenous rights.

Dr. Thom's work has also has taken him to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights where Hul'qumi'num leaders have sought international intervention in their claims.

At the heart of his research is an effort to find places of reconciliation of state power and colonial settlement with the ongoing presence of Coast Salish peoples on the land.

Dr. Thom's research has highlighted examples of how this may be done, such as the successful co-management parks, and through employing collaborative and long-term research to document Indigenous land use and territoriality.

He continues to work on these issues, most recently partnering with Google to develop tools and training for Indigenous mapping projects.

Interdisciplinary Research

Dr. Thom's research is at the intersection of anthropology, geography and law.

Research Keywords

Community Interaction

Community Projects

Dr. Thom's research is with Coast Salish people, particularly with Hul'q'umi'num'-speaking communities of southeast Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. He focuses on the political, social and cultural processes involved in land claims, self-government, co-management and other efforts of reconciliation here on Vancouver Island.