Assistant Professor
Ph.D Columbia University, 2021
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Leslie Sabiston (Red River M茅tis) is from Selkirk, Manitoba.
Working at the intersections of political, legal, and medical anthropologies alongside Indigenous Studies, Les brings together critical social theories of colonialism, race, class, gender, and sexuality with a commitment to understanding the ongoing processes of colonial encounter between the Canadian state, its population, and Indigenous peoples. Departing from anthropology's traditional focus on Indigenous worlds, Les instead employs anthropological concepts and methodologies to analyze how colonial projects and dominant structures of violence take root in everyday life鈥攖hrough diverse practices of remembering, reasoning, emotion, dream, and desire鈥攍imiting the capacities of both Settlers and Indigenous peoples to flourish. He remains stubbornly committed to the view that deeper interrogation of these ingrained processes of thinking, feeling, and being can lead to meaningful change.
Les' research investigates the mechanisms through which colonial governance operates in contemporary Canada, particularly examining how medical, legal, and social welfare systems coordinate encounters with Indigenous peoples. His work explores how various forms of knowledge鈥攆rom medical diagnoses to policy frameworks鈥攁chieve common-sense status while reinforcing colonial relations and managing Indigenous lives. Through ethnographic engagement across courtrooms, clinical settings, policy offices, and community programs, he traces the logistical and epistemological infrastructures that define Indigenous difference and shape possibilities for resistance within intersecting realms of law, health, and social welfare.
His current research examines the politics of consultation in contemporary governance, investigating how institutional practices of consultation鈥攑articularly around Indigenization policies in universities鈥攐ften undermine the radical political horizons they purport to serve. This work explores how consultation processes maintain existing power relations while containing resistance through bureaucratic techniques that fragment Indigenous political formations. Les is also engaged in collaborative research on searches for unmarked graves at former Residential School sites, examining how archaeology confronts new forensic and ethical (as well as spiritual) demands in the context of Canada's colonial history, and how these investigations challenge disciplinary practices while opening possibilities for new modes of collaboration grounded in Indigenous sovereignty.
Les welcomes students who are curious about our place in the universe and passionate about positive transformation. His teaching seeks to cultivate new capacities in students and himself to be courageous in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding while also being humble, respectful, and responsible in the face of the world's mysteries. He believes anthropology and ethnography offer powerful tools for approaching life's uncertainties and embracing our interdependence with other humans, species, and beings with humility and wonder.
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Representative publications:
Some of Leslie鈥檚 representative publications will appear here soon.