I'm a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Guelph where I'm the Science Director for the Coastal Routes Project. I am interested in how people engage with fish and fisheries through their work, diet, culture, and conservation, and root my work in community-engaged scholarship and place-based case study. I value relational approaches to human dimensions research, and seek ways to develop relationships and understanding between myself, the lands and waters on which I work, and the people who allow me to meet them in those places.
Photo: Johnny C.Y. Lam (https://johnnycylam.com/)
About Me
I grew up in Alaska on the traditional lands of the Dena'ina people. My work and sense of place in the world is defined by the lands and waters I grew up on. Today I live as a (uninvited) guest in Guelph, Ontario on the ancestral lands of the Attawandaron people and the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. I recognize the significance of the Dish with One Spoon Covenant to this land, and am in a continual process of learning my role in reconciliation and honoring the treaties under which I live.
I earned my bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. My research work focused conflicts between user-groups in Cook Inlet's highly contentious salmon fisheries. My thesis wove together reflexive storytelling with empirical ethnographic research among the fleets, and was honored with the Western Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Thesis Award in 2014.
I earned my PhD at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellow in the IMPRESS project. My research focused on the contested use of hatcheries as conservation technologies for wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in western Norway, Wales, and Germany. During my PhD I was honored as a Green Talent fellow by the Germany Federal Ministry for Education and Research in recognition of my research toward sustainable environmental futures in fisheries.
Photo: Johnny C.Y. Lam (https://johnnycylam.com/)
My Work
My current research is focused on human dimensions of Great Lakes commercial fisheries and their environments. My work looks at several primary questions:
What are the contemporary challenges and opportunities Great Lakes commercial fisheries face?
How can we, the larger public, reshape our relationships with Great Lakes fisheries and fishing communities to be resilient to a changing climate and the Anthropocene?
What is the 'merroir' of the Great Lakes, and how can we conserve it through comprehensive and diverse initiatives, theorized as a 'Blue Belt'?
Knowledge mobilization and science communication are critical components of my research and teaching. I am always interested to learn new techniques for connecting with diverse audiences, and bridging knowledge types and ways of knowing and understanding human-environmental relationships.
I co-created and co-produce the Coastal Routes Radio, a platform for audio-based knowledge mobilization around fisheries, student research, and making research more accessible to all. Currently I write, produce, and co-host the Fishing Forward Podcast, hosted on Coastal Routes Radio. I am also currently writing and producing a documentary film about Great Lakes commercial fisheries, which I expect to release in 2023.
Documenting the Local Catch Summit Portland, Oregon 2019.
Contact
Hannah L. Harrison, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Email: hharr at uoguelph dot ca
Department of Geography, Environment, and Geomatics
