Lisa Rankin

Lisa Rankin is a Professor in the Department of Archaeology at Memorial University, cross-appointed to the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies. She holds the Memorial University Research Chair in Northern Indigenous Community Archaeology and has served as Past-Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research and Past-President of the Canadian Archaeological Association. Her academic background includes a Ph.D. from McMaster University (1998), an M.A. from Trent University (1994), and a B.A. (Hons.) from the University of British Columbia (1991).

Rankin's research explores post-medieval cultural encounters between Labrador Inuit and Europeans, Indigenous interactions across millennia, ethnicity, identity formation, landscapes, and settlement patterns in the eastern Sub-Arctic. Her current focus examines how Labrador Inuit transformed from small egalitarian households to large communal structures led by trader-shamans during 16th–19th centuries, investigating their integration into global economic networks through seal oil, baleen, and fur trade.

Her publications emphasize Inuit-European contact dynamics, gender roles in cultural exchange, community archaeology methodologies, and heritage preservation. Recent work analyzes shifts in domestic power structures, Indigenous agency in colonial contexts, and the application of archaeological data in contemporary Indigenous governance.

Awards & Honors:

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2024)
• Smith-Wintemberg Award for Canadian Archaeology (2024)
• Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (2021)
• Geoffrey Marshall Mentoring Award (2016)
• Memorial University Dean’s Awards for Scholarship (2018) and Supervision (2012, 2013)
• President’s Award for Public Engagement (2016)

Rankin directs major research initiatives including the SSHRC-funded partnership Tradition and Transition among the Labrador Inuit (collaborating with the Nunatsiavut Government) and previously led the CURA project Understanding the Past to Build the Future. She has secured grants including SSHRC Insight Development Grants, CFI JELF funding, and multiple Partnership Grants. Her lab and field teams involve interdisciplinary researchers across archaeology, ethnography, and genetics.

She has supervised over 35 graduate students (PhD and MA) researching Inuit archaeology, heritage policy, and colonial encounters. Current doctoral projects include Inuit whale hunting practices, Beothuk settlement patterns, and heritage commodification.