LEIDEN UNIVERSITY POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP
I have received a twelve-month IIAS Fellowship (1 Oct 2025 - 30 Sept 2026) to work on my project The Flow of Fish Skin Material Culture among Arctic and Subarctic Native Communities between Eurasia and the Americas from the 18th century to the present day.
The research during my time at IIAS will focus on exploring the flow of fish skin material culture between Arctic and SubArctic Native communities between Eurasia and the Americas from the 18th century to the present day. The Native Inuit, Yup'ik, Alutiiq, and Athabascan of Alaska; Siberian Nivkh and Nanai; the Ainu from Hokkaido Island in Japan and Sakhalin Island in Russia; the Hezhe from northeast China; the Scandinavian Saami, and Icelanders all have historical evidence of fish skin production. These Peoples developed specialised harvesting and processing techniques to craft suitable clothing from fish skin, essential for northern climates. The research showcases the cross-cultural exchange of ecological practices and material culture between these communities and beyond. Colonisation significantly altered these relationships, impacting both ecosystems and cultural practices. Despite these challenges, many communities maintained ties to salmon.
My work aims to enrich museum collections and community mapping initiatives. By exploring the cultural, ecological and spiritual relevance of fish skin across different Arctic indigenous groups, it investigates sustainable fish skin practices and traces the historical exchanges between Eurasian regions and America that have shaped fish skin technologies. This comparative analysis highlights Indigenous resilience and adaptation, offering new perspectives on the role of fish skin in both cultural survival and global environmental sustainability, suggesting on the use of fish skin as a material in current fashion markets.