Assistant professor in Indigenous Knowledges
BA Hons (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), MA & PhD (Université Laval), Postdoc (McGill University).
Theological Hall 403
613.533.6000, ext. 74244
j.legoas@queensu.ca
Curriculum Vitae (PDF 300.8KB)
Research and Focus
Jorge Legoas works in the central Andes (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia). He was trained in anthropology and sustainability in Peru (PUCP), Switzerland (International Academy of the Environment), and Canada (Laval & McGill). His work focuses on the ontological and religious dimensions of Indigenous people’s relation to their environments, with particular attention to how they enact culturally rooted epistemologies of the many human and nonhuman agents inhabiting their worlds — especially land, mountains, and the weather.
Professor Legoas is currently the principal investigator for the SSHRC-funded project “Indigenous Weather Forecasting between Divination and Planning” (Insight Development Grant # 430-2022-00664). He also works on social exclusion, the discourses of postcolonial development, and Indigenous citizenship and belonging. Prior to working in academia, he has been the director of several NGOs and a development consultant among Indigenous authorities and government actors in the Andes.
Graduate student supervision and funding
Accepting graduate students (in RELS or CUST) pursuing research in the following areas or approaches: Indigenous cosmologies and practices. Climate knowledge and wildfires. Ethnoclimatology and weather forecasting. Traditional knowledge and relation to the land and mountains. Anthropology of nature and anthropology of religion. Indigenous environmental governance. Traditional wisdoms and shaman-like practices. Environmental knowledges in school learning. Indigenous citizenship and social exclusion. Sustainability and postcolonial development. Performance, rationality, and ritual. Ethnography, discourse analysis, Actor-Network Theory and STS.
Funding for Graduate Students: We are seeking a First Nation, Inuit or Métis graduate student to join a research project on wildfires, traditional knowledge, and weather forecasting in Canada. The student will be pursuing a Master's or Doctoral degree in Religious Studies or Cultural Studies around the same research topic under the supervision of Professor Legoas.
Starting date: Flexible, between Fall 2023 and Fall 2024.
Amount: Up to $6,000 per year -- two years for PhD students, one year for MA students.
Courses
- RELS 842/342 - Indigeneity and Nature.
- RELS 806/301 – Understanding Rituals.
- RELS 809 - Things and Beings in Indigenous Ontologies.
- RELS 401 – Honours Seminar.
- RELS 257 – Indigenous Sages and Wisdoms.
- RELS 242 - Objects and Materiality in Indigenous Worlds.
- RELS 227 - Indigenous Traditions.
Previous courses:
- ANT 2521 – Theories in anthropology (U. of Ottawa)
- ANT 3890 – Andean nature-cultures (Trent U.)
- ANT 3800 - Community and development (Trent U.)
- SOC 2683 – Sociology of Indigenous peoples (U. of Quebec)
- DEV 6063 – Theories of development (U. of Quebec)
- DEV 1053 – Interculturality and development (U. of Quebec)
- ES 1310 – PhD seminar: Ethnographic research (Andina U.)
- POL 704 – Theories of culture (Central U.)
- SOC 403 – Qualitative research (Central U.)