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About Me

I am trained as an anthropological archaeologist with more than eight years of experience working as an archaeologist in the arctic and subarctic regions of Canada on both pre- and post-contact sites.  I received my BA in Anthropology from the University of Manitoba in 2004, an MA in Archaeology from Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) in 2008, and my Doctorate from MUN in 2016.  During my graduate research I worked closely with Inuit communities, and I continue to promote and support community-based and collaborative research projects when conducting any research.  I tend to approach historical topics from a long-term perspective, which spreads across the disciplinary divide of pre- and post-contact in archaeology and across many historical periods/chronologies.

I joined the Manitoba Museum in 2013 as Curator of the Hudson’s Bay Company Museum Collection and am actively building the collection to broaden the story of the HBC by exploring the relationships between European employees and First Nations, Inuit, and Métis fur traders as they negotiated space, material culture, and their daily activities.  I am currently working on a few research projects, including exploring trading posts and encampments in southwest Manitoba while evaluating the history of fur trade archaeology in Canada and how our archaeological investigations can be reconsidered and reframed.

I am also an active member of the Canadian Archaeological Association and serve on the executive of the Manitoba Archaeological Society.

Recent Publications

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

(In review) “To Trade or Not? An Examination of Increasing Trade Participation of the Labrador Inuit”.  In The Archaeology of the Labrador Inuit, edited by Stephen Loring and Lisa Rankin. Contributions to Circumpolar Anthropology, Arctic Studies Centre, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.

2014. “Big Men, Big Women, or Both? Examining the Coastal Trading system of the 18^th Century Labrador Inuit”. In History and Renewal of Labrador’s Inuit Métis, edited by John Kennedy, ISER books (pp. 75-93)

2013. “Finding Mikak: The Search for a Late Eighteenth Century Inuit Trader in the Archaeological Record”. In Exploring Atlantic Transitions: Archaeologies of Permanence and Transience in New Found Lands, eds.Peter E. Pope and Shannon Lewis-Simpson.Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology, Monograph no. 7. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell and Brewer.

 

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

2015. “Missionaries, Merchants, and Inuit Entrepreneurs: An Examination of Trade Relations along the Labrador Coast.” Études/Inuit/Studies Vol. 39 (1-2): 141-164.

Popular Magazine Articles & Columns

Canada’s History Magazine, Trading Post Column (available in print and online), from 2016 onward.

 

Media Coverage

Social Media

@AmeliaEMFay

Country Focus

Canada

Expertise by Geography

North America

Expertise by Chronology

Ancient, Pre-17th century, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century, Early Modern, Modern

Expertise by Topic

Colonialism, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Material Culture, Museums