Website: https://grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca/
Description:
The Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts & Cultures (GRASAC) is a vibrant, interdisciplinary research network comprising over 500 members. Since 2005, they have collaborated in the study of Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat cultures in the Great Lakes region of Turtle Island.
GRASAC serves as both a network of individuals who convene, collaborate, and exchange ideas to deepen their understanding of the histories, languages, and cultures of the Great Lakes, and a digital repository that digitally reunites Great Lakes materials from various global sources. This initiative aims to re-establish connections among heritage items and between these artifacts and community members, educators, scholars, and heritage professionals.
The GRASAC database represents a publicly accessible knowledge platform grounded in Indigenous kinship ontologies specific to the Great Lakes region. Its creation was made possible through the backing of the CDHI Emerging Project and Graduate Fellowship and involved consultations with CDHI staff.
Contributors:
Heidi Bohaker, Associate Professor & Associate Chair, Undergraduate, History (FAS), and co-director of GRASAC
Cara Krmpotich, Associate Professor & Director, Museum Studies Program, iSchool and Co-Director of GRASAC
Funding: SSHRC Insight Grant