Paul Gareau, PhD

Area of Study / Keywords

Métis religion relationality co-constitutive identity Native/Indigenous Studies Métis Studies Religious Studies Research Methods Indigenous|Canada MOOC

About

Dr. Paul L. Gareau is Michif-French/Métis from the Batoche Homeland and is an associate professor and associate dean (graduate studies) in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada. His research, publications, and teaching explores the Métis (Indigenous) experiences of religion and spirituality, Indigenous critical theory and co-constitutive identity, and the legacy of colonial discourses on Indigenous and ethno-cultural minorities. Grounded in Métis Studies and Indigenous Studies as well as Religious Studies, Gareau’s work centres on theory and methodology around relationality, gender, Indigenous onto-epistemologies, land and place, nationhood/peoplehood, and sovereignty/self-determination. 

Research

Grants and Scholarships: Primary Investigator (past 5 years)

1. 2025–2027. Critical Approaches to Indigenous Relationality (CAIR) Project
   Playback Relationality Lab: Engaging Critical Indigenous Theory and
   Good Relations through Playback Theatre.” Co-Investigators: Third
   Space Playback Theatre: Edmonton. ($25,000)
2. 2025–2026. KIAS Funds
   Identity and Religion | Relations and Place (IR|RP). Co-Investigator: Dr.
   Joe Wiebe, Augustana University, Camrose, AB ($5, 000)
3. 2023–2024 SSHRC Connections Grant and KIAS Collaborative Outreach Grant
   Critical Indigenous Theory in the Study of Religion Network ($30,000)
4. 2023–2024 Killam Research Fund, Cornerstone Grant
   Métis Religion and Spirituality Across the Métis Homeland ($50,000)
5. 2020–2024 KIAS Cluster Grant, University of Alberta
   Métis Kinscapes Project ($91,019)
6. 2020–2022 Intersections of Gender RIG, University of Alberta
   Third Space Edmonton Playback ($6,000)
7. 2018–2020 SSHRC Insight Development Grant

Publications: (past 5 years)

Gareau, Paul L. 2020. “The Army of Mary: Quebec Nationalism and Catholic Heterodoxy.” In The Mystical Geography of Quebec: Catholic Schisms and New Religious Movements, edited by Susan J. Palmer, Martin Geoffroy, and Paul L. Gareau. Springer International Publishing. 

Gareau, Paul L. 2021a. “CSSR: Historical Reflections.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 50 (3): 365–74. 

Gareau, Paul L. 2021b. “Mary and the Métis: Religion as a Site for New Insight in Métis Studies.” In A People and a Nation: New Directions in Contemporary Métis Studies, edited by Jennifer Adese and Chris Andersen. UBC Press.     

Gareau, Paul L. 2021c. “Storied Places and Sacred Relations: Métis Density, Lifeways, and Indigenous Rights in the Declaration.” In Honouring the Declaration: Church Commitments to Reconciliation and the Un Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, edited by Don Schweitzer and Paul L. Gareau. University of Regina Press.    

Gareau, Paul L. 2021d. “Indigenous Religions and Spiritualities in Canada.” Eurel: Sociological and Legal Data on Religions in Europe and Beyond, September 9. https://www.eurel.info/spip.php?article4013.    

Gareau, Paul L. 2023a. “A Better Home on Native Land: Reflections on the Question of Home and Being Good Relations.” Canadian Jewish Studies/Études Juives Canadiennes 36 (255–60).    

Gareau, Paul L. 2023b. “Making Kin: Indigenous Relationality in Promoting Public and Political Knowledge about Religion.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, December 6, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/00084298231212209.    

Gareau, Paul L., and Jeanine LeBlanc. 2021. “Religion and Relationality: Insights from Indigenous Studies.” Center for Religion & the Human, Indiana University Bloomington. https://crh.indiana.edu/engaging-religion/teaching-modules/gareau-leblanc.html.    

Gareau, Paul L., and Jeanine LeBlanc. 2022a. “Pilgrimage as Peoplehood: Indigenous Relations and Self-Determination at Places of Catholic Pilgrimage in Mi’kma’ki and the Métis Homeland.” Material Religion 18 (1): 32–45. https://10.1080/17432200.2021.2015923.    

Gareau, Paul L., and Jeanine LeBlanc. 2022b. “What Role Does Pilgrimage Play in Indigenous Religious Life?” In Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes, edited by Molly Bassett and Natalie Avalos. Equinox Publisher. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/indigenous-religious-traditions5m/.    

Gareau, Paul L., and Molly Swain. 2024. “Indigenous Knowledges.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by John Barton. Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.ORE_REL-01178.R1.    

Koffman, David S., and Paul L. Gareau. 2023. “Jews and Métis in Canada: Ethnic Mobility and the Politics of Counting.” In The Ever-Dying People? Canada’s Jews in Comparative Perspective, edited by Randal F. Schnoor and Robert Brym. University of Toronto Press.    

LeBlanc, Jeanine, and Paul L. Gareau. 2023. “Our ‘Spiritual’ Relations: Challenging Settler Colonial Possessiveness of Indigenous Spirituality/Religion.” Anthropologica 65 (1): 1–28.   

Palmer, Susan J., Martin Geoffroy, and Paul L. Gareau, eds. 2020. The Mystical Geography of Quebec: Catholic Schisms and New Religious Movements. Springer Nature. 

Schweitzer, Don, and Paul L. Gareau, eds. 2021. Honouring the Declaration: Church Commitments to Reconciliation and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. University of Regina Press.  

Tucker, Angie, Keith (Sangria Jiggz) King, Tanya Ball, and Paul L. Gareau. 2025. “Storying Métis Sexualities.” In Mawachihitotaak: What We Learned (in Michif) Métis Conference Book, edited by Laura Forsythe and Jennifer Makides. Peter Lang Publishing.   

Teaching

Courses Taught as Assistant Professor: Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta

NS 110: Historical Perspectives in Native Studies

NS 201: Aboriginal Canada: Looking Forward/ Looking Back

NS 280: Religion and Relationality (Special Topics in Native Studies)

NS 290: Introduction to Research and Inquiry

NS 390: Research Methods in Native Studies

NS 503: Métis History (Reading Course)

RELI 580: Youth and Religion (Reading Course)

NS 498A - Honors Paper or Project

For students in the Honors program in Indigenous Studies in their final year. Prerequisite: NS 390.

NS 520 - Theoretical Perspectives in Indigenous Studies

This seminar introduces students to the history of and various theoretical concepts deemed important to the discipline of Indigenous Studies..

NS 620 - Advanced Theoretical Perspectives in Indigenous Studies

This course engages students with theoretical concepts seminal to the discipline of Indigenous Studies. Students will gain a thorough understanding of the Indigenous Studies theoretical field and will be able to specifically identify theory relevant to their explicit research project. Through Indigenous theory, students will be able to identify ethical issues in relation to research with Indigenous communities.

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