with Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel (Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Victoria, BIG Lab Co-Director) | Zoom and University of Victoria, BC | January 27, 2025

According to Anishinaabe scholar Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (2017), Indigenous peoples are “inherently international.” Indigenous nations have long engaged with other nations and non-human kin by utilizing diplomatic protocols and treaty-making. Drawing on the extensive literature around treaty-making (Deloria & DeMallie, 1999; Lightfoot & McDonald, 2017; Starblanket, 2019), UVic Professor and BIG Lab Co-Director Dr. Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel will compare the Buffalo Treaty (2014) and the recent implementation of the Five Tribe Wildlife Management Reciprocity Agreement (2024) in Oklahoma in terms of the ways that they expressed solidarity and Indigenous international law. The Buffalo Treaty was first signed between eight Blackfoot Nations on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border to honor their sacred relationship to buffalo. Recently at the 10th Anniversary of the signing of the Buffalo Treaty, it was pointed out that over fifty Indigenous nations have become signatories to this important treaty, which is a powerful expression of Indigenous international law.

See below for a recording of Jeff’s talk.

Tuition-Free Fellowships: Call for Paper Proposals

Submission Deadline: March 31st, 2025

We are now accepting paper proposals for academic and policy research on cross-border management issues and challenges.

We welcome any proposal subject that is related to: cross-border management, border law, trade and customs borders, human mobility across borders, Indigenous internationalisms and border crossings, border security, ecological borders, border disputes, and artificial intelligence in border management.

Successful applicants will be receive a tuition-free fellowship for our Summer Institutes, where they will learn from leading academics and policy officials about contemporary borders and earn a certificate in the institute(s) of their choice.

Fellows will be supervised by professors/lecturers at the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada) and the papers produced may be published in our academic journal, BIG_Review.

 

Submission Guidelines

To respond to this Call for Paper Proposals, please submit your application at the button labelled “Complete Application Form” no later than Monday, March 31st at 11:45 PM (PST). Successful applicants will be notified by the end of April 2025.

Proposals should be a maximum of 500 words, including title and biography, and should discuss the motivation for, objective and possible outcomes of your research as well as explain the datasets and methodology to be used in your research. Proposals must be uploaded to the online application as a PDF document in accordance with the following requirements:

– File name: Last name, First name_2025 BIG Summer Inst Proposal

– Times New Roman 12 pt. font

– Double-spaced

– Written in English or French

For more information on the application and award process, see the “Detailed Call for Paper Proposals” and submission guidelines below.

Tuition-Free Fellowships: Call for Paper Proposals

Senior Non-Resident Fellow

Jamie Ferrill

Dr. Jamie Ferrill is a senior lecturer at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University in Canberra. She has nearly a decade of practical experience, having worked for the Canada Border Services Agency before transitioning to academia. Her research focuses on national and economic security, with an emphasis on cross-border governance, border management, and transnational crime. Jamie has been a visiting fellow at the Academy of International Affairs NRW and the Border Policy Research Institute, and she is a fellow of the Financial Integrity Hub at Macquarie Law School and the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen’s University. Jamie is a co-editor of the Control, Security, and Surveillance section in Oxford Intersections: Borders (Oxford University Press).

Jamie Ferrill

Non-Resident Fellow | Senior Researcher

Halina Sapeha

Dr. Halina Sapeha is a Research Associate/Senior Researcher at BIG Lab. Her research interests include global governance, international security, international law, border disputes, and evidence-informed policy-making.

At BIG Lab, Halina leads collaborative and interdisciplinary research as part of the 21st Century Borders Grant and the Jean Monnet Network: Borders, Human-to-Military Security Database. Her current research agenda includes several projects that examine border dispute patterns and challenges to security governance, as well as the effectiveness of boundary dispute resolution by international legally binding methods, using the BIG Dyads Database.

Halina has conducted quantitative and qualitative research at several Canadian universities and the United Nations University. Multilingual, she previously held posts in international agencies and think tanks throughout Europe and worked on surveys for COMPAS Research.

Halina Sapeha

#7 Frontlines Are Everywhere — Aaju Peter, Inuit Self-Determination Amidst Shape-Shifting Colonization

featuring Aaju Peter (Inuk lawyer, activist, filmmaker, educator, and clothing designer)

Aaju Peter CM and Dr. Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel talk about promoting education in Inuit communities, challenges to food sovereignty in the Arctic, the role grief plays in resilience, and more in Episode #7 of Frontlines Are Everywhere.

Aaju Peter is an Inuk lawyer, activist, filmmaker, educator, and clothing designer. She is on the frontlines of defending the rights of Inuit, including the right to an education and to engage in seal hunting. The documentary Twice Colonized (2023) follows Aaju’s efforts to establish a permanent Indigenous forum at the EU while she undergoes a personal journey of loss and healing.

Listen to Episode #7 on YouTube.

#7 Frontlines Are Everywhere — Aaju Peter, Inuit Self-Determination Amidst Shape-Shifting Colonization

BIG Podcast #35 & #36 — Borders, Territorial Jurisdiction and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction

featuring Cedric Ryngaert (Professor of Public International Law at Utrecht University, Netherlands)

What do state borders mean in a world where thousands of different jurisdictions overlap, serve multiple functions, and take multiple forms? The theme of this podcast explores the concept of jurisdiction in light of Border Studies, state territorial sovereignty and the normative power of the State which can extend beyond borders. There are several types of jurisdictions. Territorial jurisdiction refers to the power of a state to enforce its laws within its geographic boundaries, while extraterritorial jurisdiction refers to the ability of a state to extend its laws beyond its borders often due to particular links, such as actions having effects on its nationals or its interests abroad (and this extraterritorial jurisdiction also concerns other entities such as the EU, or even certain global private firms). This topic raises complex questions regarding sovereignty, human rights, international cooperation and the regulation of transnational activities. It allows us to better understand the variable function of legal limits of borders. The first part of the podcast mainly focuses on the notion of jurisdiction and jurisdiction of a territorial nature.

Listen to Part One – Episode #35 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube!

Listen to Part Two – Episode #36 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube!

BIG Podcast #35 & #36 — Borders, Territorial Jurisdiction and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction

Summer Institutes

Ben Rohrbaugh

Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law

Ben Rohrbaugh is a Policy Editor with BIG_Lab and a Senior Fellow in the Central America and Mexico Policy Initiative at the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law. He is the co-founder of Lantern Unmanned Autonomous Systems, LLC, which develops systems to scan cargo containers using aerial drones, and a partner at the consulting and training firm New Macro Risks. He was previously a Senior Advisor in the Department of Homeland Security Office of Policy. From 2014 to 2016, he served as the Director for Enforcement and Border Security at the National Security Council in the White House, where he coordinated policy on Central American migration, border management with Mexico and Canada, supply chain security, and cross-border infrastructure.

Previously he worked as a Senior Advisor to the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, where he handled engagement on customs, migration, and security cooperation with the Government of Mexico and negotiated the first entirely privately financed border crossing. Prior to this, Ben was Counselor to the Special Representative for Border Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, where he focused on border management, cross-border infrastructure, and communications interoperability. He also served as the Director for National Security within the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, where he was responsible for political appointments within the Departments of Homeland Security, State, and Defense, and international development organizations.

Ben Rohrbaugh

Jamie Ferrill

Charles Sturt University

Dr. Jamie Ferrill is the discipline lead and lecturer in financial crime studies and lecturer at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University. She has nearly a decade of law enforcement experience, having worked for the Canada Border Services Agency before her academic career. Her research focuses on national and economic security; her current focus is on border governance, transnational cooperation and collaboration, and organizational processes.

Jamie Ferrill