Chairholder
Faculty of Arts, University of Ottawa
Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies
Desmarais building
55 avenue Laurier
Ottawa, ON
Canada
Pierrot Ross-Tremblay, PhD
Chairholder
Pierrot Ross-Tremblay (Essipiunnu) is the holder of the Research Chair (Tier II) in Indigenous Intellectual Traditions and Self-Determination(s) and a professor at the University of Ottawa. His work focuses on intellectual and oral traditions, knowledge sovereignty, cultural memory and forgetting, as well as narratives and prototypes of effective self-determination. His research seeks to protect, document, and amplify forms of knowledge, methodology, and governance rooted in the people themselves and their ancestral lands.
Since 2020, he has developed a research program combining scholarly production, action research, art creation, training the next generation of researchers, and community-based research partnerships. He leads the Takuaimatishun Laboratory and contributes to the development of digital initiatives such as Confluence Premiers Peuples, dedicated to the preservation of Indigenous knowledge, as well as the 2026 Summer School Thinking about First Peoples’ Self-Determination.
Author of Thou Shalt Forget and the collection Nipimanitu, he regularly publishes in specialized journals and books and is actively involved in research-creation, media, and public forums. Through the chair, he works to create more spaces where people can come together, reflect, and act collectively to protect the land and living beings, advance epistemic justice, and support the effective self-determination of First Peoples, including in research.
Areas of specialization
Self-determination(s), ancestral sovereignty(ies), memory and forgetting, intellectual traditions, oral traditions, land-based legal orders, Indigenous research and methodologies.
Education
2012
PhD in Sociology (Memory Studies), University of Essex, United Kingdom
2005
PGDip in Federalism, Constitutionalism and the Transformation of Conflicts in Multicultural Societies
Conflict Management, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
2005
M.A in Conflict Studies, Université St-Paul, Ontario, Canada
2004
PGDip in Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
2000
LL.B (BA in Law), Université Laval, Québec, Canada
Courses taught
EAS2510
Penser l’autodétermination des Premiers Peuples (Thinking about First Peoples’ Self-Determination)
Analysis of the intellectual, political, legal, and cultural foundations of First Peoples’ self-determination, including historical barriers and contemporary strategies.
EAS3501
Recherche et méthodes autochtones (Indigenous research and methodologies)
Introduction to Indigenous methodologies, decolonial pedagogy, critical positionality, and knowledge co-creation.
EAS4503
Autodétermination et souveraineté(s) des Premiers Peuples (First Peoples’ Self-Determination and Sovereignty(ies))
Exploration of the political, legal, and cultural dimensions of Indigenous sovereignties.
EAS6501
Théories autochtones (Indigenous theories)
Advanced study of Indigenous theories, ontologies, and knowledge systems from an interdisciplinary perspective.
EAS4501
Travail sur le terrain et recherche dirigée en études autochtones (Fieldwork and directed research in Indigenous studies)
Field immersion, experiential learning, and supervised research projects.
EAS4515
Apprentissage sur le territoire (Land-based learning)
A land-based approach to Indigenous knowledge through direct experience, encounters, and situated storytelling.
