Welcome to a seminar with guest researcher Caroline Hervé from Université Laval (Québec, Canada).
Caroline Hervés research focuses on the historical and contemporary relationships between state institutions and Inuit communities in Nunavik (Canadian Arctic), in a context shaped by enduring colonial relations. Drawing on ethnographic research, I conduct several projects within state institutions, which I approach as privileged space‑times for observing both the coexistence and the frictions between Inuit and non‑Inuit ways of being in the world.
By carrying out research across a range of public services — including the courts, policing, civil security, health care, social services and academic institutions — she develops a comparative and cross‑sectoral perspective. This approach aims to examine the relationships between the various actors involved, both employees and service users, the ways in which they encounter one another in everyday interactions, and how they perceive and negotiate their place within these relationships.
This analysis highlights the persistence and reproduction of colonial power relations as they unfold through ordinary, everyday interactions, producing forms of structural violence, particularly through bureaucratic logics. It also underscores the central role played by cultural mediators — such as interpreters or Inuit employees acting as cultural translators — as well as the importance of subtle, everyday strategies of resistance.
Caroline Hervés research is situated at the intersection of political anthropology, and more specifically the anthropology of the state, Indigenous studies, and Inuit studies. It is conducted within the framework of partnership‑based and participatory research projects, through which, drawing inspiration from Indigenous research methodologies, she develops approaches that prioritize the creation of sustained and meaningful relationships with research participants. This perspective recognizes Inuit as cultural experts and involves an ongoing engagement with reflexivity and researcher positionality.
Caroline Hervé is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Université Laval (Canada). She also holds the Research Chair in Relations with Inuit Societies, through which she seeks to generate new knowledge about the history and social dynamics of Inuit societies, develop training and educational tools for non-Inuit, and give Inuit a central role in research production.
She specializes in political anthropology and analyzes the ontological dimensions of intercultural encounters in contexts marked by colonial relations. She is the author of the book Le pouvoir vient d'ailleurs. Leadership et coopération chez les Inuit du Nunavik (PUL, 2015) and several scientific articles. She is a member of the Interuniversity Center for Indigenous Studies and Research (Université Laval) and the Institut nordique du Québec. She is also the editor of the international journal Études Inuit Studies.