042 From The Boreal Forest To Avocados - ALICIA COLSON talks about the Human And Environmental Aspects of Archaeology

“What Can I Find Out, What Does It Tell Me?

I May Never Know, So I’m Okay With That”

 

ALICIA COLSON is an Archaeologist and Ethno-historian. Both disciplines have a huge role to play in protecting our environment as well as our human connections to the environment.

Alicia’s PhD research involved a complete survey of the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada’s section of the Boreal Forest – the results of which had greater consequences for her career in Canada than she had anticipated at the time.

She is a firm believer in Citizen Science i.e. the passing on of skills learned, to others who are interested and have not had the same opportunities due to circumstance. This work took her to the four corner states (Utah, New Mexico, Oregon and Arizona), and also to Namibia, where she and a group climbed a section of the Brandenburg Mountain to record rock paintings.

Alicia believes that “the mindset you have will dictate the bits of information that you put together to try and understand your puzzle”. Her work with indigenous Cree or Ojibway speakers of the Boreal Forest has involved listening to those who have a tradition of recording their history through oral memory rather than the written word. They are animists believing that everything around them is alive whether it’s the tree, the rock, etc and we are one part of many living components. With respect to the Boreal Forest, Alicia says, “It’s a huge lung, (and) incredibly fragile.”

Alicia has worked with the British Exploring Society, she is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), a co-founder of the digital magazine Exploration Revealed, supports the online platform Women Also Know History, and writes Food Archaeology articles for WONK magazine.

“I don’t know whether you can say knowledge is cool,

But sometimes I think it is.”

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ALICIA

Instagram: @alicia_colson

Twitter: @colson_alicia

RGS: https://www.rgs.org/geography/news/wiley-research-fellowships-alicia-colson-and-sher/

Women Also Know History: https://womenalsoknowhistory.com

Exploration Revealed: https://www.ses-explore.org/explorationrevealed

WONK Magazine – Avocado Article: https://www.wonkmagazine.co.uk/post/food-archaeology-avocado

TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST HOST: www.travellingthrough.co.uk

THANKS AS ALWAYS TO MARISKA @mariskamartina for creating the PODCAST JINGLE