Regna Darnell (award 2014) is Distinguished University Professor in AnthropologyFirst Nations Studies at Western University. She was the
recipient of the Boas Award for Exemplary Service to Anthropology
in 2005, the American Anthropology Association’s highest honour.
She is a member of the American Philosophical Society, received a
Doctor of Letters Degree from The University of Waterloo in 2009
and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2007-2008, she
served as President of the Canadian Anthropology Society.
Professor Darnell has mentored many anthropology students and First
Nations scholars, and is the founding director of Western
University’s First Nations Studies Program. Through applied,
collaborative research and teaching, she has made a significant
contribution to the retention, revitalization and preservation of
First Nations languages in Canada. She has carried out research in
Northern Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, West Africa, and
Southern Ontario into language, Indigenous knowledge and
traditional medicines, identity, mobility and social change, the
risk of contaminants on First Nations, water and ecosystems health.
Her extensive archival work has explored the history of
anthropology in North America. She has published widely on First
Nations languages and cultures, as well as Edward Sapir, Franz
Boas, and anthropological theory and linguistics in the United States and Canada.