Dr. Nancy Turner
Premier Ethnobotanist – British Columbia
Nancy Turner is an author and Emeritus Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria and has been a Research Associate for the Royal BC Museum, both in British Columbia, Canada. Nancy Turner is plausibly the most notable North American ethnobiologist active today! Especially through her extensive on-site works with North American indigenous peoples, Dr. Turner has proven that the common term of “hunter-gatherers” is a woefully inadequate descriptor of Native practices for food gathering. Her works illustrate ancient, developed, and complex systems for managing and enhancing plant and animal populations, including propagation. Turner’s research integrates the fields of botany and ecology with anthropology, geography and linguistics, among others. She is interested in the traditional knowledge systems and traditional land and resource management systems of Indigenous (aka First Nation) Peoples, particularly in western Canada.
Nancy has worked with First Nations elders and cultural specialists in northwestern North America for over 50 years, collaborating with Indigenous communities to help document, retain and promote their traditional knowledge of plants and habitats, including Indigenous foods, materials and medicines, as well as language and vocabulary relating to plants and environments. Her interests also include the roles of plants and animals in narratives, ceremonies, language and belief systems.
Turner was born in Berkeley in California in 1947 but moved to British Columbia when she was five. She obtained her Doctorate in Ethnobotany after studying the Nuxalk, Haida and Lillooet indigenous groups of the Pacific North-West. She works by interviewing the groups’ elder members to identify their names for plants and their uses. Comparison and scientific analysis of this data has enabled her to draw conclusions. Turner’s research identified not only the role that plants have had in these group’s culture but also the effects that indigenous people have had historically on the landscape of Canada.
“It is far from random (that) as some of these approaches become better understood and more widely known, they could be applied in a contemporary context, to increase the quality and diversity of native species.”
Dr. Turner has been awarded both a “Killam Research Fellowship,” and the 5th William L. Brown Award for Excellence in Genetic Resource Conservation in 2008.
Article: Interview with Nancy
Books: Dr. Turner has authored, edited, co-authored or co-edited over 30 books including Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples, Ancestral Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America, and The Earth’s Blanket: Traditional Teachings for Sustainable Living.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-turner-cm-obc-phd-frsc-fls-b5132119/
Video 1: Nancy Turner, Ethnobotanist
Video 2: UVic: Masterminds Lecture
Video 3: Ethnobotany of BC
