Dr. Wenzel completed her dissertation at Carleton in 2023, in Anthropology. She holds a Masters in Arts in Anthropology from the University of Victoria and an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Political Science from McGill. Her doctoral research took an economic anthropological approach to Indigenous women’s textiles and art in the sub-Arctic region, specifically in the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories, and their relationship to the Canadian tourism industry. Her research during her fellowship will focus on Indigenous peoples' experiences of wildfires. The ongoing impacts of settler-colonial practices have continuously dispossessed Indigenous peoples through the imposition of regimes that disregard Indigenous knowledge systems, stewardship practices, and connectivity to Land. These experiences of colonial environmental violence in policy and practice are increasingly worsened by anthropogenic climate change.
Read more about Dr. Wenzel and her plans during the Fellowship in the Arthur and in Trent's News.
In winter 2025, Abra presented a North at Trent Lecture "Valuable Materials, Invaluable Relationships: Tufted Stories of Connection". Dr. Wenzel will deliver another public lecture in Winter 2026 - watch the North at Trent page for details.