I'm part of an ongoing collaboration with Bigstone Cree Nation on sakâwiyiniwak (Northern Bush Cree) experiences with traditional food contamination in what is now known as northern Alberta (oil sands and forestry use of pesticides). This work involves community based environmental monitoring to protect food sovereignty of plants, water, and wildlife (moose) in Bigstone Cree Nation territory. I’m also part of a team that collaborates with Stoney Nakoda Nations on restorying bull trout in the eastern slopes of the Rockies and supporting women to measure selenium in traditional foods.
Research interests
Ethnography of contamination, environmental and ecological anthropology, ethnobiology and ethnoecology, post-humanism and the anthropocene, anthropology of food, community-based research methods, political ecology, ethnographic writing
Educational credentials
Bachelor of Arts, First Class Honours, Anthropology, University of Calgary
Master of Arts, Anthropology, University of Alberta
PhD, Anthropology, McGill University
Professional affiliations
Adjunct Professor, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Saskatchewan
North Americas Representative for the International Society of Ethnobiology
Co-Editor, Ethnobiology Letters
Freshwater Fish Futures, Member
Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts, Affiliated Researcher
Alberta Indigenous Mentorship in Health Innovation (AIM-HI) Network, Partner
Centre for Indigenous Conservation and Development Alternatives, Partner
Cultural Politics of Energy in Northern Alberta, Co-Applicant
Global Environments Network, Member
Baker, Janelle. 2022. Boreal Plants that Enchant: Lively Ethnography ofSakâwiyiniwak(Northern Bush Cree) Multispecies Kinship Obligations.Environmental Humanities, Special Issue on Enchantment14 (2), 385–400.https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-9712467
Alex C. McAlvay, Chelsey G. Armstrong, Janelle Baker, Linda Black Elk, Samantha Bosco, Natalia Hanazaki, Leigh Joseph, Tania Eulalia Martínez-Cruz, Mark Nesbitt, Meredith Alberta Palmer, Walderes Cocta Priprá de Almeida, Jane Anderson, Zemede Asfaw, Israel T. Borokini, Eréndira Juanita Cano-Contreras, Simon Hoyte, Maui Hudson, Ana H. Ladio, Guillaume Odonne, Sonia Peter, John Rashford, Jeffrey Wall, Steve Wolverton, and Ina Vandebroek. 2021. Ethnobiology Phase VI: Decolonizing Institutions, Projects, and Scholarship. Journal of Ethnobiology 41(2): 170–191. https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-41.2.170
Janelle Baker. March 10, 2021. Logging Company Clears Cree Ancestral Trail with no Recourse. The Conversation.
Josephine Auger and Janelle Baker. February 22, 2021. How Universities can Support Indigenous Online Learners in the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Conversation.
Golzadeh, Nasrin, Benjamin Barst, Janelle Baker, Josie Auger, Melissa McKinney. 2021. Alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are the largest contributor to polycyclic aromatic compound concentrations in traditional foods of the Bigstone Cree Nation in Alberta, Canada Environmental Pollution 275(116625):1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116625
Janelle Baker, Paulla Ebron, Rosa Ficek, Karen Ho, Renya Ramirez, Zoe Todd, Anna Tsing, Sarah E. Vaughn. Winter 2020. The Snarled Lines of Justice: Women ecowarriors map a new history of the Anthropocene. Orion Magazine.
Janelle Marie Baker. 2020. Editorial Writing during the Impossible: Tips for writing from an academic and mother. Journal of Integrated Studies 12(1):1-6.
Baker, Janelle Marie. 2020. Do Berries Listen? Berries as Indicators, Ancestors, and Agents in Canada's Oil Sands Region. Ethnos 86(1):1-22.
Black Elk, Linda & Janelle Marie Baker. 2020. From Traplines to Pipelines: Oil Sands and Pollution of Berries and Sacred Lands from Northern Alberta to North Dakota. In Indigenous Peoples' Land Rights and the Roles of Ethnoecology and Ethnobotany: Strategies for Canada's Future, edited by N.J. Turner. Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.
Golzadeh, Nasrin, Benjamin Barst, Nilandri Basu, Janelle Baker, Josie Auger, Melissa McKinney. 2020. Evaluating the concentrations of total mercury, methylmercury, selenium, and selenium:mercury molar ratios in traditional foods of the Bigstone Cree in Alberta, Canada. Chemosphere 250(126285):1-10.
Baker, Janelle Marie. 2019. Bear Stories in the Berry Patch: Caring for Boreal Forest Cycles of Respect. Pp.119-137 In Extracting Home in the Oil Sands: Settler Colonialism and Environmental Change in Subarctic Canada. Clinton N. Westman, Tara L. Joly, and Lena Gross, editors. Arctic Worlds Series, David Anderson and Rob Losey, editors. New York: Routledge.
Baker, Janelle M. & Fort McKay Berry Group. 2019 . Cranberries are Medicine: Monitoring, Sharing, and Consuming Cranberries in Fort McKay. In Wisdom Engaged: Traditional Knowledge for Northern Community Well-Being, edited by L.M. Johnson. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.
Baker, Janelle M. 2018. The Fern that Makes you fat: Access to Traditional Foods in the Canadian Oil Sands. Hektoen International A Journal of Medical Humanities, 10(4). External Site
Baker, Janelle M. & Clinton N. Westman. 2018. Extracting Knowledge: Social Science, Environmental Impact Assessment, and Indigenous Consultation in the Oil Sands of Alberta, Canada. In The Extractive Industries and Society, (5):144-153. External Site
2019 Canadian Association for Graduate Studies Proquest Distinguished Dissertation Award, Fines Art, Humanities and Social Sciences Category
2016 Visiting PhD Scholar on Niels Bohr Professor Anna Tsing’s “Research on the Anthropocene Project” at Aarhus University: “Discovering the Potential of Unintentional Design on Anthropogenic Landscapes”