Sharon Angnakak

En anglais seulement

Sharon Angnakak, PhD (University of Ottawa, 2024), is an assistant professor at the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Manitoba. She is a scholar of religion and Inuit history whose research explores Inuit perspectives in landmark twentieth-century court cases. She completed her doctoral studies under Dr. Emma Anderson and earned her MA under Dr. Angela Sumegi and credits these two women whose steadfast support – along with the support of her mother and other strong women – for shaping and sustaining her academic journey. Born and raised in Iqaluit, she brings extensive experience in Inuit employment, heritage, and policy development through roles within the Government of Canada and the Government of Nunavut. Her academic and professional work reflects a deep commitment to strength-based approaches in community-engagement, education, research, historiography, and cultural heritage.

Dissertation

Uqattiartuq: interprétations inuites et qallunaat de la religion et de la loi au début du 20e siècle au Canada.

Sharon’s doctoral research examines Inuit perspectives in criminal court cases during the First and Second World Wars, focusing on how colonial legal systems encountered Inuit understandings of law, leadership, and cosmology. Drawing on archival records and published Inuit oral histories, the study situates these early-twentieth-century cases within the wider history of Arctic sovereignty and the complex interactions between Inuit law, Canadian state power, and global conflict. By foregrounding Inuktut (language), Maligait (law), and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (philosophy) as interpretive frameworks, Sharon challenges conventional narratives of Inuit history, revealing how Inuit interpreted legal and religious messages through their own worldviews and, at times, actively resisted colonial encroachment – including through force – as these court cases make clear.

Dissertation: https://ruor.uottawa.ca/items/ebea7435-beb1-4c65-a4da-09bd27aaa479